Living Simply In A Complex World

On Wednesday I was sitting in a Wells Fargo branch waiting for a banker to assist me with a transaction. Wells Fargo, as you may know, recently merged or bought out Wachovia and to be honest I sort of like the new Wells Fargo look. Their logo includes the words "Wells Fargo" with a picture of an old stage-coach being pulled by a team of horses below the lettering. As I sat in the waiting area I studied the large mural on the wall beside me which included old farming pictures and what seemed to be a number of newspaper headlines from Franklin Township back from the years of the horse and buggy. One picture in particular really caused my imagination to run. It was a picture of a man sitting in a horse-drawn cart outside a 2-section barn. Imagining myself in that scene for a few minutes was serene for I thought, "How simple life must have been".

I cannot tell you how many people I have talked to who have said in one way or another, "I miss the days when..." If you have not said it I'm sure you have thought it many times.

• I miss the days when everyone knew your name.
• I miss the days when no one worked on Sunday.
• I miss the days when families sat on their front porch in the evenings and talked with their neighbors.
• I miss the days when doctors came to your house if you were sick.
• I miss the days when families lived in close proximity to one another.
• I miss the days when parents gave their neighbors permission to punish their children if they misbehaved.
• I miss the days when you never had to lock your house.
• I miss the days when we had less and yet had more.

Technology, if we are honest, has made life a lot easier in many respects, but it has not done much to improve our relationships with those we really care about: God and neighbor. If my relationships with God and people have grown over the years it is not a result of the many new forms of communication I have access to. Strangely I find that my relationships with God and people improve most when I simplify and just sit with them outside under a shady tree.

Folks I want to live simply. On Wednesday I wanted to be the guy sitting in the horse-drawn cart on the Wells Fargo mural. Today I want to get off this computer and sit with people. But I am deceived, I know, if I think simplicity of life comes just by changing my context or reducing the amount of activity in my life (although that may be included). I am learning that the remedy for any Christian when facing any problem is not to change the outside circumstances but to change the inside first. The outside will quite naturally change in response to internal change, but the opposite is not always true.

I believe living simply in a complex world begins with identifying a singular purpose. It begins with naming that which is at the center of our lives and discovering what it means for everything to revolve around that center. Now be careful though because if we put the wrong thing in the center we will soon feel the disequilibrium. Life will begin to feel like we are driving on square wheels.

There are two bible characters who illustrate this truth well. The first is the rich young ruler from Matthew 19. The rich young ruler appeared to desire God at the center of his life. He even asked Jesus, "Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" (Mt.19:16). However, the truth of matter was that though this man had many riches, his many riches had him.

After the rich young ruler went away sad Jesus told His disciples, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Mt.19:24), and they were baffled. Part of their baffledness stems from the fact that many Jews believed material prosperity was a sign of God's favor and poverty the opposite. Their response makes sense given their theology: "Who then can be saved?" (v.25).

When Jesus said "no one can serve two masters" (Mt.6:24), He did not mean, 'It is unwise to serve two masters'; He meant 'It is impossible to serve two masters'. One will always assume the center role. Simplicity was not possible for the rich young ruler until he identified a singular purpose for his life and centered all of life around it. You see if God were at the center of his life he could have had a care-free spirit regarding his wealth such that the poor would have already had access to much of his fortune. Instead, losing his wealth was surely a terrifying thought. Jesus could have said, "Take the heart out of your chest and you will have eternal life", and the rich young ruler would have responded the same.  You see for him his fortune was at his center. If that were taken away his whole world would cave in.

The second character, the one we must seek to emulate if we desire simplicity, is the poor widow of Mark 12. Sitting over against the treasury in the temple courts Jesus witnessed this poor widow put two mites into the treasury. Jesus' comment on her gift was, "For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living" (Mk.12:44). Richard Foster said about this woman,

"Her giving had a certain reckless abandon to it. She evidenced an undivided devotion that fulfilled the command to love God with all the heart, soul, mind and strength...Here was a woman free from idolatry to mammon, devoid of greed and avarice. Here was a person in whom extravagant giving exceeded prudent thrift. Here was a widow, helpless and defenseless, who had learned to trust the Father for her needs day by day, one who sought first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Dare we follow her lead?" (Freedom of Simplicity, ps.59-60).

The difference between the rich young ruler and this poor widow was the purpose for which they saw their lives. The rich young ruler purposed and centered his life around wealth even while wanting to center his life around God. The lack of simplicity in his life was a consequence of having one too many masters in his heart. Freely giving his money to those who might need it was not possible for him because he was not free from his money. He was not free! Many things pulled him in many directions. The result, if we consider how this might affect our own lives, was worry, fear, joylessness and unlove. How many of us can honestly say that if all we had to live on today was daily bread (i.e. no month's supply of food in the pantry/freezer) we could still live with joy? That thought probably terrifies most of us.

The poor widow, however, had only one pull on her heart: God. As a result her life was very simple. It was simple not because she was poor but because she was living for one purpose alone: to love God. To have one purpose does not mean that we refrain from making provision. No, we continue working but we work in faith not in the anxious concern of distrust. What comes to us from our work is not so much the result of the fruit of our labors, but the gractious gift of God; "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (Jn.15:5).

How often in a given day do you think about success? How often do you think about how much money is in your bank account? How often do you think about your career path? How often do you think about food? How often do you think about rent or a mortgage? How often do you worry about all of those things? A good indication of what's at the center of your life is to identify what your mind thinks about the most.

How would life be different for you if the thing you thought about the most was Jesus? How would life be different for you if your work, your family, your free time, your bank account, your car, your clothes, your health and your future was all centered around Jesus? How would life be different for you if you asked God to empower you to take your mind off of all the things you don't really control (all of the above) and put it on the only One who is really in control? Jesus.

I believe living simply in a complex world begins by identifying the purpose and center of your life and pulling everything into that center. When everything in your life begins to revolve around Jesus I believe you will find a simplicity of life and heart that brings joy and true freedom. That's what we long to do at our congregation; we desire to see a whole community united to build life around Jesus, our Center.

"Father in Heaven, please lift from us the burden of those things which we do not control and yet worry so much about. Free us from the bondage of the world around us. Free us from the bondage of sin, and empower us to walk by the Spirit in carefree-ness knowing that without Jesus we can do nothing. In Jesus name, Amen"