Dr. Carl Barth, the great Swiss theologian, once came to the United States. He was talking one day with theological students. They asked him this question: “Dr. Barth, in your lifetime you have read and studied as deeply into theology as any man who has ever lived. Could you summarize for us in just a few sentences what you believe to be the essence of Christianity?” And those students waited anxiously for some profound theological truth to come from his lips. The old man said to them, “Yes, I think I can summarize the essence of Christianity in just a few words. It is this: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” The wiser we become, the more we simplify life. Life so easily gets cluttered for every one of us. People who despair because their calendars are so crowded and their duties so demanding have to put a premium on simplicity. Otherwise our lives are at the disposal of others. Jesus was the great simplifier.
