History records that Christopher Columbus was sitting at dinner with a group of Sea Captains who all agreed that his discovery of the New World amounted to “nothing” and that any of them could have done the same. Discovering the New World was “easy.”
After a while Columbus held up a hard boiled egg in its shell and asked who among them could make it stand on end. Each of the captains tried without success until one finally shouted, “No one can make an egg stand on end! It is impossible!”
Columbus then took the egg and set it down on its end just hard enough to slightly flatten the bottom. When he removed his hand, the egg stood on end perfectly. “Look!” he exclaimed. “It is easy, now that I have shown you how.”
Clearly, standing an egg on end is not easy. In fact, it is not even possible unless you know how. Columbus had taken an impossible task and made it simple, not easy.
During my twenty-five years as a homeschooling Mom, I constantly looked for ways to make homeschooling simple, both for me and my students. For instance, before I ever sat down with my oldest child and began our daily lessons, I developed a phonics program to teach her to read. I took 3 x 5 cards and wrote one letter of the alphabet on each. I then wrote common combinations such as "sh", "ch", "tr", etc. on other cards. I taught Alexandra the name of each consonant and the sound it makes. I then taught her the name of each vowel and the long and short sound for each. After that I taught her the various common combinations. When she had mastered all of the cards, I introduced Dr. Seuss’ "Hop on Pop" as her first reader. Within six weeks after I first began teaching her, Alexandra was reading.
After I had taught several of my children to read using this method, people began asking me if I were going to sell my “reading course.”I explained that it was not something that anyone would buy; it was just a simple method of teaching children to read.
Finally, I agreed to share my method with a friend who insisted that she was desperate for a way to teach her son to read. I made her a set of cards and invited her to come to my house to pick them up. When she arrived, I explained exactly how I used the cards to achieve the desired results. My friend listened quietly and then took the cards and left.
Later, I walked out into the front yard and found the entire stack of cards scattered over the lawn. She had thrown them away and had not even done me the courtesy of waiting until she left my property to do so!
This woman had a lot of money and spent it freely. If I had produced a more complicated program that included colorful artwork, glossy cards and complex instructions, she would have gladly paid three or four hundred dollars to get it. Whether it would have actually worked would not have been an issue.
The problem with simple is that few people respect what is truly simple. For example, when Naaman, the commander-in-chief of the King of Syria’s army, went to Elisha to be healed of Leprosy, Elisha did not even come to the door to talk to him. He sent a servant to tell Naaman that if he would wash himself seven times in the Jordan River, he would be healed. That is about as simple as it gets, but Naaman did not want simple.
Naaman went into a tirade, but his officers reasoned with him, “If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply to go and wash and be cured!” (2 Kings 5:13 Living Bible)
Naaman finally obeyed the prophet’s instructions, and he was immediately healed. He then stood humbly before Elisha and declared, “There is no God in all the world except in Israel.” Naaman vowed that he would never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any god other than the Lord.
Can you imagine the “problems” Naaman’s healing caused for him? He was whole—his skin was as healthy as a little child’s—but he was now the only godly man in Syria. He served a king who worshiped idols, and he was in a position where he could not “fly under the radar.” It was one of his duties to accompany the king to Rimmon’s temple. Naaman’s life would never again be easy.
Last night John, a Mennonite Missionary, spoke at our church. He and his wife were raised in a Mennonite community in Mexico, and he now works full-time as a missionary to the Mennonites. John said that the Mennonites are very religious but very legalistic. Because they are taught not to read the Bible, they do not have a concept of Grace.
John went on to say that he is naturally a very shy person and that it is extremely difficult for him to approach people to talk to them about the Gospel. However, he is able to persevere because of the knowledge that if he shares the Gospel with someone, and that person believes the message, God has the power to save that person and change his life.
This simple idea has brought about salvation for many of the Mennonites living in Northern Mexico, but John has paid a price. He has exchanged what could have been an easy life for one that is simple—and filled with hardship.
Simple and easy often collide. God has given us a plan of salvation that is simple enough for all who are willing to come to Him to comprehend. The problem is that we humans tend not to value that which is truly simple. Those of us who have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior must help others to understand that God’s plan of salvation is simple, but it is also the most valuable gift the world has ever known.
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