Don't Make It Harder Than It Has To Be

Have you ever worked on something and finally thought, "We're making this a lot harder than it has to be"?

I remember when my son Zion and I built a doghouse for our French mastiff, Henry. Two months later, it looked like a tiny home with different rooms! We made it way harder than it should have been. Today, Zion is a master craftsman running a company in Atlanta. What changed? He put himself in an environment of people who knew what they were doing.

Environment changes people.

The Power of Environment
Growing up Pentecostal, I heard plenty about Acts 2—the birth of the church. But I rarely heard about Acts 15, which addresses a critical question: Are we making it too hard for people to come to Jesus?

By Acts 15, revival was breaking out among the Gentiles (non-Jews). But some believers insisted that Gentile converts must be circumcised and follow the entire law of Moses to be saved. Paul and Barnabas strongly disagreed, and the church leaders met in Jerusalem to settle the issue.

Peter's Bold Challenge
Peter stood up and reminded them that God had already accepted the Gentiles and cleansed their hearts through faith. Then he asked this piercing question in Acts 15:10-11:
"So why are you challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus."

Peter was saying, "Why are you requiring something from them that you don't even do yourself?"

Then James made this declaration in Acts 15:19: "We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God."

My interpretation: We shouldn't be making this harder than it really is.

What "Raising the Bar" Really Means
The Pharisees had set the bar impossibly low—like limbo, where you have to bend backward to get under. They created requirements that even they couldn't meet.

But think about Jesus' approach with His disciples. When He called Simon, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew the tax collector, He didn't say, "Clean up your life, quit cussing, get your act together, and then you can follow me."

Jesus said two simple words: "Follow me."

Jesus raised the bar way up high, making it easy for them to step into relationship with Him. Why? Because He knew if He could get them into an environment where they were hanging out with Him, watching how He did things, learning from Him—that environment would change them from the inside out.

He didn't have to beat anything into them. The environment would do the transforming work.

The Lies That Keep People Trapped
The environment we live in has been lying to people for years:

• "If you've had an abortion, God can't forgive you"
• "If you've struggled with addiction, you're stuck"
• "If you've questioned your sexuality, God can't help you"
• "Clean yourself up first, then come to Jesus"

But that's not what Jesus did with His disciples. He invited them to follow Him—messy, broken, and all—and let the environment of being with Him transform them.

This is what our "Raising the Bar" campaign is really about: making it easier for people to meet and encounter God.

An Invitation
Maybe you've been stuck thinking you need to get your life together before coming to Jesus. Maybe you've seen Christians and thought, "No, thank you." Maybe you're waiting to quit certain behaviors before you feel worthy to follow Him.

But Jesus simply says, "Follow me."

If you'll just begin to follow Him, let Him pour into you, watch the way He does things, learn from Him—you'll be changed from the inside out. Not by religious requirements or trying harder, but simply by walking with Him in the right environment.

Don't make following Jesus harder than it has to be.

Just follow Him.