"AND LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF."
It is this simple...
Simplifying life seems to be the popular thing these days, and can be defined differently by everyone. In my quest of searching for the answer to simplicity, I find a lot of common ideas. Here are a few:
- downsize to a smaller home
- declutter
- less materialistic
- debt free living
- eat healthier
- minimize wardrobe
- work your own land
- less busy
- enjoy nature
- give more
- spend less
- climb DOWN the corporate ladder
- DIY products/projects
- Get rid of "keeping up with the Jones's"
Does this list look familiar? We can add so much more to this list, but I trust you get the picture.
Let me preface with this important note: We CANNOT love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbor as ourself, if we are not born again. It is not a work WE can accomplish. It is a work we need to surrender to God to do. EUREKA! Simple living is nothing WE can conjure up. If, however, you are like me, you have tried and tried to DO all that the checklists say, to live a simple life.
Let's start with loving the Lord - to love the Lord with everything you have, you must love everything else less. To spend maximum time with the Lord, you have to spend less time filling your calendar or sitting idle. To know Him as creator, you need to spend time in His creation. If we lay down idols, we will own less and eat less, and maybe eat/be healthier as well.
Loving our neighbor - If we are fulfilling the first greatest commandment, I truly believe the second greatest commandment will naturally follow. When we love the Lord most; when our debt decreases; when we lay our idols down; when we clear our calendars...we have opened up our hearts, our time, and our resources to love others well - through hospitality, giving, acts of service, letter writing, encouraging others...
Is this not what people are looking for in their personal quests for simplicity? Loving well, living well, freedom to do what we enjoy, time to invest in our families? Well, Good Grief, Charlie Brown!, this is the way. Rather, HE is the way.
We can read all the books, google all the blogs/websites, and read all about the pioneers of old, to try to live simply, OR we can go to THE BOOK, THE WORD, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, and ask Him to make our journey to simplicity possible for His glory alone.
Simple living is a heart issue, a mindset, a new nature...not a list of works. We are always going around the same mountain, aren't we? Aren't I? (me being chief of sinners on this one - insert heavy sigh!...)
And with this new heart/mindset/nature, we can live simply with the Father whether in rural/city, wealth/poverty, black/white, old/young...it knows no boundaries!
Simple living does not mean easy living. The sanctification process is a difficult one, but a good one. Simple living is not just about us; it is about Glorifying God and sharing Him first.
Please share any comments you have. I would love to hear from you!
Have a great weekend, folks!
