This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated. Ecclesiastes 7:29
“Simplicity is freedom. Duplicity is bondage. Simplicity brings joy and balance. Duplicity brings anxiety and fear. The preacher of Ecclesiastes observes that “God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising.” … The Christian discipline of simplicity is an inward reality that results in an outward lifestyle. Both the inward and the outward aspects of simplicity are essential. We deceive ourselves if we believe we can possess the inward reality without its having a profound effect on how we live. To attempt to arrange an outward life-style of simplicity without the inward reality leads to deadly legalism. …
Experiencing the inward reality liberates us outwardly. Speech becomes truthful and honest. The lust for status and position is gone because we no longer need status and position. We cease from showy extravagance not on the grounds of being unable to afford it, but on the grounds of principle. Our goods become available to others. We join the experience that Richard E. Byrd, after months alone in the barren Arctic, recorded in his journal, “I am learning…that a man
can live profoundly without masses of things.”
Contemporary culture lacks both the inward reality and the outward lifestyle of simplicity. We must live in the modern world, and we are affected by its fractured and fragmented state. We are trapped in a maze of competing attachments. One moment we make decisions on the basis of sound reason and the next moment out of fear of what others will think of us. We have no unity or focus around which our lives are oriented.”
Richard Foster (b. 1942) in Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1998) 79-80.
Reflect on the wisdom of Solomon: “God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.”
Inwardly, everything in life flows from our relationship with God. Our identity is fixed. Our security is sure. Our needs our met in Him. But we buy all the world’s messages and life becomes complicated, chaotic, and messy.
Now, reflect on the words of Richard E. Byrd, after months alone in the barren Arctic, recorded in his journal, “I am learning…that a man can live profoundly without masses of things.”
Things have become too important to us. “We are trapped in a maze of competing attachments.”
Generosity happens only when you locate inward and outward simplicity. How does today’s reading convict you? Lean into this with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
You’ve got this. God’s got you.
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