KEEP IT SIMPLE SWEETHEART
2 CORINTHIANS 11:3 N.K.J.V.
3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
When I was in sales, there was an acronym that was often shared in sales training. K.I.S.S. It stood for Keep It Simple Stupid. And knowing Joy's dislike of the word stupid, I softened up the title of this devotional.
The idea behind KISS was to help salespeople stay on track with the basic elements of the sale as opposed to adding too much information that would confuse the prospect. Salespeople, then and now, can succumb to talking too much.
Paul was concerned that false teachers would come in and pull these believers away from the simplicity that is in Christ. This was a constant concern of Paul's'. It seemed there were these false ministers who would come after him and preach "another" Jesus and a different gospel. So Paul was reminding the church at Corinth to stay with what they had been taught.
Paul likened this deception to what happened with Eve in the garden. The serpent, Satan, deceived Eve into sinning by his craftiness. God had said not to eat of the tree of good and evil, and the serpent directly contradicted what God had said. But he did it in a slick way. He further "enlightened" her to what God really meant. And if you examine that interchange, you see that the serpent was indicating that God was withholding from them. The serpent deceived Eve, and we know how that turned out.
APPLICATION:
One of the best ways to discern false teaching is when it becomes too hard to understand. Salvation becomes so complex that you walk away confused. Paul called this being corrupted in our minds. Another word for corrupted is spoiled to bring to a worse state.
Another corrupting thought is that you need something else in addition to Jesus in order to be saved or to be in right standing with God. Some have taught that you must be baptized in water to be saved. But baptism is an outward sign of what had already taken place when we were made new creations. Water baptism is good, and I strongly encourage the practice, but salvation is by receiving Christ as Lord and Savior.
Other corrupters to look for are conditions to salvation, such as you have to belong to our church to be saved. To have to dress a certain way or you can’t wear jewelry. You must confess all your sins before you can be saved. You must be baptized the way we do it. These are confusing and not correct.
When our church first started, I spoke with a young man who was coming out of a very legalistic denomination. He seemed to have such potential but could not get past the simplicity that was in Christ. There was too much grace preached in our church, and he was convinced that so much more needed to be added for someone to be truly saved. As he was talking, the Holy Spirit brought this verse to my mind.
Salvation through Christ is so simple, that anyone can understand it. Don’t get corrupted. Keep it simple.