Accept the Simple Answer

What is more powerful than God? More evil than the devil? The poor have it. The rich need it. And if you eat it; it will kill you.

Nothing is more obvious than the answer to this riddle. Yet, the smartest people take the longest time finding the answer. Why do we look for a more complicated answer when the simple answer is the best?

For example, how long does it take you to determine whether you should do the godly thing or the ungodly? How long does it take you to determine that you should eat healthy foods? How long does it take you to determine that you should exercise? How long does it take for you to determine that you should be honest? Most of the decisions we make neither takes a rocket scientist's or a brain surgeon's mind. We already know what we should do.

However, we can make things very complicated when we don't want to do what we know we should. I counsel people who know that they should be faithful to their spouses. They tell me elaborate stories of how they became unfaithful. They tell me why doing the right thing is so complicated. They don't understand that a ball of string is very uncomplicated until you tangle it together so much that it takes days to straighten things out. They don't realize that they had a ball of string when they started. It was simple but the known bad decisions made things complicated.

I am continually amazed at stories of people blaming others when they already knew the right answer. How many people are truly ignorant that McDonalds' coffee is hot? How many don't know that cigarette smoking is bad for your health? How many people don't know that abusing your credit cards will hurt your credit report? How many people don't know that cheating on your spouse can't be good for you marriage? Yet, people are blaming McDonalds for their spilled coffee burns, the cigarette companies for their lung problems, the credit card companies for their bad credit and their spouses for their unfaithfulness.

Life is really complicated when you do what you shouldn't have done. It is really complicated when you try to figure your way out of the maze you have entered.

Our church has an adult special needs Sunday School class. These people are mentally challenged but some of the most fun people I know. Their lives are simple and they are very happy. They know that doing the right thing is the best thing. You will find them doing this most of the time.

I know some very intelligent people who are not so happy. They may know that doing the right thing is the best but they seldom do so. They are always trying to make their answers complicated.

Why is this when you could just accept the simple answer and be happy?