Simplicity

Do you remember what it was like to be a little kid? Life seemed so simple. Everything you did was whole-hearted. You played, cried, loved, and hated with pure passion. There were no hidden agendas, and when you opened your arms to someone it was with the full expectation of being accepted just as you were, sticky little fingers and all.

Somehow we lose that child-like spirit as we get older. The complexities of life become normal to us, and feelings that used to be instinctive are now second-guessed, over-analyzed. We are educated to be cynics; and as our default attitude towards others becomes one of a vague mistrust, is it any wonder that faith in a loving Father and an intimacy with him is so difficult?

Read what Tozer has to say on the subject:

Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.

If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers Himself to "babes" and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.

--from The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

May you rediscover the child you used to be as you approach the Father today.