We believe in simple and pure devotion to Jesus Christ, our Lord...
2 Corinthians 11:3. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. [NASB 95]
First and foremost, our devotion is to Jesus Christ, our Lord. We are devoted to Him because He loves us. He even loved us when we hated Him and wanted nothing to do with God (Romans 5:8). We were in rebellion against a gracious and loving God, demanding our own way, even though that way led to misery and joylessness (Romans 6:23). But God provided a simple way for us (John 14:6). Though Jesus was God, the Son of God the Father, He became a human. He took on our form, our sorrows, even our sins. He lived a blameless and good life. He permitted Himself to be killed as if He were a common criminal, at the hands of a ruthless and uncaring empire (Philippians 2:6-8). However, it was this death that revealed His love to us. This death accomplished two great things. First, it was a sacrifice for us. It set us free from our bondage to guilt, shame and rebellion (I Peter 3;18). Second, it allowed each of us to know Jesus, personally and experientially (Philippians 3:8). God, who was once foreign and distant to us, could now draw near to us (James 4:8). He could walk with us, counsel us and befriend us in ways that He could not do when we were rebelling against Him (Hebrews 4:16, John 15:15). God and His creation could have fellowship with one another, giving us joy (Romans 14:17) and life (John 10:10b) Therefore, because of Jesus’s astounding, open-armed love for us, we are devoted, in simplicity, to Him, our Friend and our Lord. We recognize that we, as humans, like to complicate things and build complicated structures and organizations. However, Jesus asks for a “pure and simple†devotion, a one-on-one friendship (John 15:15). As I pursue this, gradually, over time, Jesus becomes my best friend; the one I turn to with anxieties and stress, joys and gratitude. He is my friend.
Romans 5:8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. NASB95
Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. NASB95
John 14:6. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. NASB95
Philippians 2:6-8. [Jesus], although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. NASB95
1 Peter 3:18. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit... NASB95
Philippians 3:8. More than that, I (Saint Paul) count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ... NASB95
James 4:8a. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. NASB95
Hebrews 4:16. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. NASB95
John 15:15. “No longer do I [Jesus] call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.†NASB95
Romans 14:17. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. NASB95
John 10:10. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I [Jesus] came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.†NASB95
John 15:15. No longer do I [Jesus] call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. NASB95