VITAL RELIGION Is Simple

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 230, 14 September 1935, Page 13

VITAL RELIGION Is Simple

Vital religion—the religion of Jesus —is simple. Jesus practised no elabpr- , ate ritual—He lived a life. He did not confront people with an involved creed and say “believe that.” He confronted them with Himself and said “Believe Me.” With Jesus it was not a matter of the intellect, but of the heart; it was not a question of knowledge but of faith; not temple-worship, but . loyalty. To those who were evidently I wistful and inquiring the way He said, I “I am the Way, follow Me.” The re- | ligion of Jesus was simple; it was con- | irerned with relationship—relationship j between a man and his God and be- | tween a man and his fellows. His two I I great commands had nothing to do with I | doctrine, but with life and one of them was “Love God”—get into right relationship with God, fellowship with Him, communion with Him. And the other was “Love one another.” Can you recall any simpler stories that you have ever read than those two which Jesus told—“ The Prodigal Son” and “The Good Samaritan”? And in one Jesus gives the picture of God as a father welcoming the boy who turns to | him no matter what the past has been; I and in the other He tells us of the spirit which should characterise a man’s relationship to his fellows.