Daily also continuing with one accord in the temple, breaking also at every house bread, they were partaking of food in gladness and simplicity of heart,

Acts 2:26 YLY

Of all the hindrances to the spiritual live, complexity of heart ranks among them.  Its used to be, when a church offered a fellowship card, the options were married, single, and, sometimes, divorced.  Today, answers can range from single-parent, blended family, or, as it comes, “it’s complicated”.

The simple heart, or, as the King James reads, singleness of heart.

Jesus said, the eye is the lamp of the body.  When the eye is single, the whole body is full of light (Luke 11:34). That word “single” means “without folds”, without layers, and, by extension, without complexity.

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The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

Luke 11:34-36

The eye is the lamp of the body.  Not an eye, but the eye.  Not the hand, not the tongue, but the eye.  Specifically, it is the eye that is the organ that illuminates the man.

Specifically, when the eye is set correctly, the entire body is filled with light.  This means the solution to being fully illuminated is not in the performance of a thing, nor in the individual execution of any deed, but solely based upon the focus, or gaze of an individual.

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The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:

1 Corinthians 2:15 NIV

You see, it is the spiritual man that is free.

According to Paul, he, the spiritual man, judges all things, and yet is judged by no one.

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

1 Corinthians 2:15 KJV

He that is spiritual judges.  He that is spiritual is not subject to other men’s judgement.

The man led by the Spirit is not under the law.  He neither looks directly to it for his direction nor does he receive criticism or accusation that he has violated it or has transgressed it.

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For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Philippians 1:21

Who cares what this life will bring?  Why do we involve ourselves with what will come in this life?

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

1 John 2:16

For surely, whether I live, I live for the Lord, and whether I die, I die for the Lord.

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The people ate and were satisfied.

Mark 8:8

It takes something to be satisfied in this life.  Paul wrote that he had learned the secret of being content in all circumstances (Philippians 4:12).  He knew how to be content.

The crowds followed Jesus in droves.  After He fed them with the miracle of the loaves, He stopped them and tried to redirect their thinking.  They followed Him more because their physical bodies were satisfied than they were by the spiritual  (John 6:26).

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Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Matthew 5:17-18

For too long, our theology has been laid out by theologians, and not by children.  Ask any eight-year old what it means that the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven hidden in dough means, and they’ll tell you that it means, more or less, that the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven!  It takes a real grown-up to tell you, after reading the words of Jesus, that the Kingdom of Heaven is anything other than what He just said it was.

What does the Kingdom resemble?  A little bit of yeast!  (Matthew 13:33).  What must we do to have life within ourselves?  Eat and drink His blood (John 6:53).  Simple, eh?

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Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Matthew 7:7-8

Some of the most profound revelations come in the most simplest of ways.  Yet, the most basic things of life are often so simple, those looking for something more profound will often bypass them.  Ecclesiasties says, “God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.” (Ecclesiastes 7:29, portion).

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By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

Hebrews 11:3

The whole of the Christian walk is in the unseen, which manifests into the seen.

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What if you had your eyes focused on just one thing?  What would it be like if you could just run after the Lord with total abandon, and seek Him with all that you are, continually?

What if you could live with your eyes fixed on the heavenly realm, and live out of the substance of faith?  What would that look like?  Where would you end up?

Brushing aside fantasy, take a step deeper…  What is it that distracts?  What is it that pulls you away?

There are two thing absolutely for certain, God will ask more of you than you want to give, AND, He can never ask you for more than you have.  So long as we keep in mind that it only, apparently, takes two loves, five fishes, and a mustard seed of faith to feed a multitude, He will never ask you to do more than what you have, when you consider everything.

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An entire oak tree is contained well within a tight, easy to carry package.  It has it’s own leathery cover, and even a handy carrying cup attached to the top.  You could, in fact, carry a hundred complete oak trees just in your pants pockets alone (assuming you’ve got big pockets).  The only thing you need to add, in order to convert your easy to transport oak tree into an immovable pillar is some sunshine, a plot of dirt, some water, and a hundred years or so!

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, that when planted, it is the smallest of seeds, but when it grows, it becomes the largest of all garden plants, and the birds of the air make their nest in it.

Matthew 13:31-32

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