Simplicity

A vibrant prayer life almost without fail moves you toward a life of simplicity. I am finding that the more I pray, the more focused I become on who Jesus is and what He has done. The next logical step for me to consider is what Jesus calls me too. When I boil it down I am confronted with the truth that I am here to love God and to love my neighbor. Jesus tells us to go and make disciples of all the nations… When you think about the simplicity of what we are called to it is amazing how complicated life becomes. We worry about our credit as we lose our houses, we worry about gas prices, we are concerned with having just the right job to advance our dreams, we want to be skinnier, we want to look nicer, we want to dress more trendy, we are constantly looking to the grass on the other side… I find that my focus turns from Jesus to asking “what can I do to make life better for me.”

Paul rejoices in hardships, why? Not because he loves going through the trials, but because of the opportunity for God to use circumstances for His glory.

How are we to live a life of simplicity in this culture? Does it mean we sell all our worldly possessions? Does it mean we give up our computers, iphones, corporate jobs or life of abundance? As I read Scripture I’m not so sure it’s any of those things that Jesus would address. I think Jesus would say keep the main thing the main thing, otherwise what are we doing?

“My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” -Paul in Philippians 1:23-24

Paul is not concerned about his life here on earth, he is concerned with his mission. I have to ask myself how simplicity plays into life. I think it happens when we let our worries and concerns fall on Christ and we do his work. We engage with the barista at the local coffee shop to share Christ, we love the homeless guy on the side of the street for the sake of Christ, we are bold in sharing our faith with our co-workers for the sake of the Gospel.

How much simpler would life be if we all realized we only have one mission, one purpose, one goal? We love God and we love others. Now, I’m not a complete idealist, I understand the complexity of doing these things, but if it is our mindset to love Jesus and love others everything we deal with gets more simplistic. We know how to respond, we know how to react, we are encouraged by his grace rather than discouraged by our struggles, we grow and we know that in the end we will spend eternity with the Father in Heaven.

So simplicity for me is so much more than unplugging for a day and enjoying the outdoors. It’s so much more than giving up something for Lent. It is so much more than spending less money, and not competing with the Joneses. It is about recognizing our ultimate purpose and mission in life, to love God, love others and make disciples of all the nations.