True and Lasting Peace through Simplicity
Excerpted from Free to Follow: Discover the Riches of a Surrendered Life by Michael Blue.
In looking at Jesus’s life, his early followers, and his most faithful followers throughout church history, one characteristic stands out—simplicity. The intentional removal of clutter and noise from life in order to more faithfully follow Jesus. Simplicity is what Paul has in mind when he writes, “[G]odliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (1 Tim. 6: 6–8).
There it is. Simple living at its best—food and clothing. A life following Jesus leads us to godliness and contentment so we can be content with the basics. Because, ultimately, we find our contentment in Jesus.
This isn’t about living sad lives, unwilling to enjoy God’s gifts. Simplicity isn’t even about changing an economic lifestyle, but rather about cultivating an attitude of joy and peace in God. Simplicity isn’t a stopgap until we get to live lavishly, it’s a lifestyle that frees us to follow wherever God leads. Enabling us to know God more intimately; removing countless distractions that prevent us from knowing God. This call to simple living isn’t a call to sacrifice, it’s a call to satisfaction. A call to know God more.
True Simplicity Explained
So what does it mean to live simply? First, let me say that I won’t give hard and fast rules. This will look different for each of us based on many factors. The key in everything we’ve talked about in this book is to begin following Jesus. That means considering him and his will for the world in all we do. That means examining how we can use our money and possessions to know him more and join with him in his work in the world. Living simply is about liberating our hearts from the seduction of resources, freeing up more resources to pursue God.
As we approach any spending decision in the pursuit of simple living, a good question to ask is, “How does this help me know God more or join with him in his work?” Most of us don’t think we spend lavishly or extravagantly, but this question helps highlight where we indulge without thought. There should be enjoyment of God’s provision, but lavish celebration or comfort shouldn’t be the rule of our lives. If we easily lavish ourselves and rarely say no so we can help others, then we’ve swung too far. As Paul says, “your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness” (2 Cor. 8: 14). Our abundance has a purpose, and it’s not increasing our lifestyle. It’s to display fairness and unity.
Wrestling Through Real-World Issues
Practically, this is hard. Living simply for God’s glory isn’t an easy transition to make. We can look at every spending decision and conclude that we could spend less. While that may be true, it isn’t the point. The point is that most of us aren’t looking at any spending decision and wondering if it’s lavish or excessive. Since we’re afraid to go down this path to its end, we don’t venture onto it at all. Afraid of the slippery slope, we don’t take a single step. We must deal with these tensions. We can’t ignore the truth that few people are considering these questions at all. I say let’s slip down this slope for a little while. Consider this example of the challenge presented by this shift in mindset.
In teaching these principles in a seminary class, I got a text message from my wife that many of the trees in our yard were diseased and needed treatment. These are big, beautiful oak trees that frame our home and give it a lot of character. Losing them would be heartbreaking. Treating them, though, would cost $ 3,000. Was I willing to spend this much to save some trees on the grounds that it would help my home maintain its beauty (and value)? What else could we do with this money? Who else could we help? Would this bring God glory or join him in his work? We were struggling. A little later on the same day my wife texted me about receiving an inheritance of $ 10,000 from her grandmother’s estate. Did that make spending the money on the trees easier since I now had some “extra” money? Was this God’s way of providing for us to save these trees?
To be honest, I didn’t have any good answers, but I was in turmoil. My gut reaction was to ignore the questions and spend the money. This wasn’t a lavish expense. Some may say it would be poor stewardship to let those trees die. We prayed about it but didn’t feel any clear direction. As we learned about the disease we realized that if we didn’t treat our trees the disease would likely spread to our neighbors’ trees, thus killing their trees or costing them lots of money for treatment. We decided to treat the trees, believing that harming our neighbor knowingly through our neglect didn’t honor God. I’m not sure if we made the right decision, but I’m grateful we asked the questions. The important thing is to prayerfully ask the questions.
The Fundamental Consideration
Once we decided about the trees, we had to determine what to do with the rest of my wife’s inheritance. Should we give it away? Save for college? Pay off some of our mortgage? Paint our house? Replace windows? Save for a car for our teenager? There aren’t easy answers, nor are my answers going to match yours. I could justify any of these expenditures. The key is considering how my usage of money is drawing me nearer to God and deeper into his work. I have to continuously circle back to my desire to live simply so that I may know God more and make his name known. My biggest mistake would be to assume that all I have is intended for my own “needs.” When I make this mistake, I miss out on the contentment found only in God and the freedom of living simply.
Faith & Finance Perspective
Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
- Proverbs 30:8-9
We take all sorts of Proverbs on their own and declare them as a model for our lives. Why not this one? This proverb beautifully matches the tension that so many of the Proverbs create between the goodness of enough and the dangers of excess. This verse sums up the life of a follower of Jesus. The desire is to know God most, and if poverty or riches make that difficult, then remove them from me. Let us, in our attempts to live simply, be people who desire to know God and make his name known above all other things. Let us seek the goodness of enough and flee from the allure of excess.