Modus Operandi

The coach is always the most popular teacher in school. He may not be popular, at the time, with some, but he or she always comes out on top when students speak of their best teacher. The coach always had the rule book, played by the rules, whether on the athletic field or in the classroom, he expected a good attitude, good performance, he expected one to dress a certain way, sportsmanship more important than victory, push you for your very best in talent and intelligence. The spoiled, lazy, “couch potato” kid could not get along with the coach or other students. The coach always made the plays, actions of the team, simple, easily understood. I have found in my life that KISS (keep it simple, stupid) is the best approach for any human endeavor.

There was a time that a boy could learn to work on a car, build most anything with his hands. Now, everything is so complex, the cell phone has more technology than the first module which landed on the moon. That the average male or female cannot repair anything, it is a matter of sending it back to the company, taking it to a professional, or in this “Kleenex mentality” world, just throwing it away and buying another.

There was a time when the average primary care doctor could diagnose most anything. Today, the primary care physician, or the physician's assistant, is just the middle man, sending you on to a specialist, and in the specializations, there are sub-specialists. In the field of eye care, some specialize in just the anterior chamber of the eye, some the posterior chamber, others, retina specialists. In banking, securities, real estate, every area is specialized, complicated; everyone after a piece of the action, and that is why life has been so complicated for people who have a modus operandi of keeping things simple.

Physical, political, spiritual, keep it simple, life is a battlefield enough for most of us. We will leave from this race to the goal line, battered and limping, but our mental stability while in the contest, race, journey, event will be happier if kept simple.

The Gospel is so simple, sin's ruin and Christ's redemption, God gave us a book which he dictated himself. The book contains all the answers, every problem of mankind, health, happiness, strife, economics, life and death. Several have written books trying to expand or explain God's inerrant Word...Joseph Smith (Mormon), Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Scientists), Ellen White (Seventh Day Adventists), Charles Russell (Jehovah's Witness).

It takes study. A Catholic bishop said, “75% of all Catholics do not know what they believe.” Dr. R.G. Lee, the great Southern Baptist preacher, said, he would like to think 10% of his church members would meet him in heaven. Let's face it, the simple truth is that most are just playing church. The simple truth, they believe that God is easily fooled. The simple truth, most believe that everyone is a hypocrite, but them. We are all good at recognizing the hypocrisy of others. Keep it simple, hypocrisy is not just a Christian property or a requirement. We know what the strict Shira law demands of the Islamic religion. For instance, there is only one country named for a family, the Saud family of Saudi Arabia. Rich beyond words, taking in $1 billion a day from their sale of oil. The 5,000 members of royal family, almost all the people of the kingdom live in splendor. I have seen their beautiful 4-lane'd highways, their beautiful automobiles, their beautiful buildings. Women are not allowed to drive, strict dress codes, religious observance, but in any of the world's famous watering holes, luxury hotels, casinos, find them living exactly opposite their religion: alcohol, pornography, etc. They own large estates all of the world, where they can live like the world, and act like the world.

It is so simple, the knowledge of so many things hatched out in darkness, embarrassing diplomatic sources, critical financial problems, horrific defensive postures, now shouted in the light at the top of the building, Wikileaks. Most nations, most financial institutions, most national military powers thought they had everything under control (top secret). It is simply a matter of not keeping your secrets simple. When anything goes in a computer, it becomes the property of anyone who can suck it out of the air. For instance, through Wikileaks we know that the Blair government in England, instructed their enemy into the release of the Lockerbie bomber. We can only imagine what might come back to haunt us, the 9/11 catastrophe, biological warfare, we know there are nations producing “killer” microbiology, easily spread throughout the world via airports.

God kept it so simple in his instruction to Noah about the building of the first structure known to man, the Ark. This, the world's greatest ship, about the size of the Queen Mary, salvation for Noah and his family, and all the animals on earth which God wished to save. With wood, pitch and tar, exact specifications, as it was with the Ark into which the baby Moses was placed, the Ark of the Covenant into which the commandments written by God were placed. Even the building of the great temples were kept simple, the law, and everything pertaining to it. Is there anything any simpler than God saying “thou shalt not murder”, “thou shalt not steal, commit adultery, etc.”

Keep it simple, stay away from your worship of idols: money, fame, fortune, fantasies. Keep healthcare simple, if you put junk food, junk liquids, junk chemicals into your body, you will have a junkyard body, instead of a temple to God. Education, farming, child rearing, buy and selling, all should be kept simple. I found out long ago, that my modus operandi in life is keeping things simple. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)