K.I.S.S.

2 Tim 2:15, NIV: " Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." My outline said, "Do your work with confidence, having no reason to be ashamed of your work, and K.I.S.S." What do I mean by the "Keep it simple?"

You hear football commentators talk about a running back going north and south, as though this is a really good thing, and it is, it is indeed. It means that the running back doesn't spend much time making a lot of fakes, or just running toward the sideline, but rather he's taking the shortest path to paydirt, running north and south, the straight line to the prize. Paul is saying something like that. Spiritually speaking, we should not spend too much time on lace and frills and what not, but rather on making headway toward our goal. North and south. That's what K.I.S.S. means right here.

It has to do with the "correctly handles the word of truth" in the NIV. Eugene Peterson rendered that as "laying out the truth plain and simple" in The Message. It's another way of saying focus on what's real. Focus. If we can correctly handle the word by sharing it plain and simple, then we've somehow reminded ourselves to keep it simple, not complicated by opinions or silly quarrels.

And what we can do for the Lord is the stronger for it.