In our complex, hype-filled, spin-ridden world, Jesus comes as a naked baby—pure and simple. It is His first and lasting message to us: life is good enough, beautiful enough, powerful enough. Without embellishment the Word—the Message—is enough.
The Good News started with a resting newborn infant full of joy and life and peace. And the final message was the same: “My peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Joy and rest have always been the marks of those who truly follow Jesus. The great issues of life are laid to rest in Him.
This joy and rest does not require perfect surroundings or easy circumstances. They are not at the mercy of situation or environment. This life, pure and simple, is portable and present in the harshest of conditions. It can make its presence known in stable or palace, hamlet or metropolis. It was present on a midnight escape to Egypt and in a simple carpenter’s cottage in Nazareth. It does not need a scepter, badge, or medallion. It’s purity and simplicity are its own defense.
But we must never mistake the pure and simple for the weak or ineffectual. True courage, power, and strength are only weakened by distractions and embellishments. True greatness always seeks to sharpen its focus, pare down accumulations, and strip away impediments.
From the womb to the tomb, the power of Life—pure and simple—has had one piercing focus: to bring that Life to every person who will receive it. Life unencumbered by all that would weigh it town or slow it down has come to set us free. Pure and simple!
