the purity and simplicity of devotion

2 Corinthians 11:3 (NASB) But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

How easy it can be and how seduced we can become (if not for the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us) to be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ! Our prayer must be– “Lord, reveal to us the purity and simplicity of devotion that you desire of us.”

What a relief it should be to us that Christ and His Eternal Truth is readily revealed by Himself  through simplicity. In fact– Jesus tells us we must learn to approach God’s Kingdom Truth from the position of little children– humble, teachable, no hidden agendas, no need to impress, no need to complicate the simple things of God.

Those of us over 4 feet tall should take note of Christ’s charge.  If a child cannot comprehend the truth and spirit of a particular spiritual concept– perhaps we should first evaluate whether it’s Biblical Truth at all! Or, perhaps it is a genuinely sound Truth, yet so utterly obfuscated (I used that world deliberately to aid my point) with the debris of religious flotsam and jetsam that no one can differentiate between God and the shipwreck of man’s natural thinking.

A man who understood the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ was Brother Lawrence. He tells it best:

I have ceased all forms of devotion and set prayers except those which my state requires. I make it my priority to persevere in His holy presence, wherein I maintain a simple attention and a fond regard for God, which I may call an actual presence of God. Or, to put it another way, it is an habitual, silent, and private conversation of the soul with God. This gives me much joy and contentment. In short, I am sure, beyond all doubt, that my soul has been with God above these past thirty years.

Yet, I think it is appropriate to tell you how I perceive myself before God, whom I behold as my King. I consider myself as the most wretched of men. I am full of faults, flaws, and weaknesses, and have committed all sorts of crimes against his King. In deep regret I confess all my wickedness to Him. I ask His forgiveness. I abandon myself in His hands that He may do what He pleases with me.

My King is full of mercy and goodness. Far from chastising me, He embraces me with love. He makes me eat at His table. He serves me with His own hands and gives me the key to His treasures. He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways. And He treats me in all respects as His favorite. In this way I consider myself continually in His holy presence.

My most usual method is this simple attention, an affectionate regard for God to whom I find myself often attached with greater sweetness and delight than that of an infant at the mother’s breast. To choose an expression, I would call this state the bosom of God for the inexpressible sweetness which I taste and experience there. If, at any time, my thoughts wander from this state from necessity or infirmity, I am presently recalled by inward emotions so charming and delicious that I cannot find words to describe them.