Tag Archive for simplicity at Zeal For Truth

Tag Archive for 'simplicity'

Simple Living in the 21st Century: Part 2 – A Theology of Simple Living

Published by Thainamu September 21, 2007 in General. 12 Comments

Last week I defined simple living as “a lifestyle that consciously and intentionally chooses to consume less than one could.” There may be any number of noble reasons to live this way (environmental, eschewing the rat race, issues of social justice, or just to stay out of debt), but I want to look at the simple lifestyle from the viewpoint of being a believer. Should believing the Bible and being a Christian affect one’s lifestyle?

The Discipline of Simplicity
During a formative period in my Christian life, I read a book by Richard J. Foster entitled Celebration of Discipline where he discusses the ancient church disciplines and how they might be practiced in modern life. He divides the disciplines into three categories;

inward (meditation, prayer, fasting, study)
outward (simplicity, solitude, submission, service)
corporate (confession, worship, guidance, celebration)

His chapter on the outward discipline of simplicity is where a number of my thoughts found their start. He actually calls simplicity “an inward reality that results in an outward lifestyle,” emphasizing the point that what is in one’s heart is more important than any specific manifestation of simplicity. Further, to have an outward simplicity for no sake other than its own is to fall into deadly legalism.

Jesus Talks Money
So what does the Bible say about simplicity? To start with, Jesus says a lot about money! Money is not a taboo topic in scripture as it sometimes is in Christian circles (I use the word “money,” but read it in the more general sense of “all the stuff money can buy”). A few examples:

money is temporary in nature (Mt. 6:19)
money takes on a life of its own (Mt. 6:21, Lk. 16:13)
money is not how we should measure our life (Lk. 12:15)

The Bible also says quite a bit about our attitude toward money and the things it can buy:

we should not love money (I Tim. 6:10, Heb. 13:5)
we are not to covet what others have (Ex. 20:17)
we are not to be greedy (Eph. 5:5)
we are to give to the poor (Lk. 6:9) and be generous with other believers (I Tim 6:17-19), but we can never give enough so that there will no longer be poverty (Mt. 26:11)
we are not to worry about money (Mt. 6:25-34, Phil. 4:10-12, 4:19)

If I lived a life completely in obedience to all that scripture says, I would automatically be living “the simple life.” Money wouldn’t control me, whether I had “too much” of it or “too little” of it, because my heart would be on seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all the things I need would be taken care of.

Voluntary Poverty
Voluntary poverty is like simple living, but more so. There is no way to measure it in absolute terms. If a multimillionaire gives away 90% and lives on 10%, he still wouldn’t exactly be in poverty but he’d be a lot poorer than he could be (is that story about R. G. LeTourneau true?). The point is that some believers intentionally live on the barest minimum they can in order to give their resources for Christian service. I don’t know too many people who do this, and that would be the point—I wouldn’t know about them if they were doing it right. I have nothing but admiration for people who make that choice and live out it out with joy — I love a cheerful giver too! Anyone interested in this topic should take a look at the writings of Ron Sider, especially Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger.

No Praise from the Prosperity Gospel Preachers or the Press
If we choose a simple lifestyle we may encounter opposition from some fellow Christians. I see my position on simple living as pretty much in opposition to the prosperity gospel - not so much in what the adherents’ respective bank accounts look like, but more what their hearts look like. I don’t believe God owes us anything except to “meet our needs” and “never leave us or forsake us.” Yes, he does also speak of giving us “abundant life,” but I interpret that to mean inward abundance, not necessarily material wealth.

We may even have our patriotism questioned! One minute ago I heard on the radio news, “The feds have just dropped the key interest rate by half a percent in an attempt to get Americans spending again.” Sometimes it seems we might be hurting America if we don’t spend as much money as we could!

Simple Living in the 21st century: Part I – Introduction

Published by Thainamu September 14, 2007 in General. 18 Comments

I have nothing against modern technology–I use it all the time. It would seem I have nothing against wealth either, since I’m richer than most people in the world (Take this cool 15-second quiz to see how your wealth compares to the rest of the world).

But in spite loving my expensive computer, something inside me yearns for the simple life. That term can mean a number of different things, but I define simple living as a lifestyle that consciously and intentionally chooses to consume less. That implies consuming less electricity, less petrol, less food, less entertainment, etc.

“Less than what?” you ask. My best answer for that is, “less than you could.” My point in simple living is not to reach an absolute standard of consumption or even a relatively lower standard than everyone around me; rather it is to be free from the demands of greed, free from the need to impress people with my stuff and to be rich enough to be generous to others.

‘Tis a Gift to Be Simple
I suppose part of my longing for simplicity comes from a rural upbringing “back in the good old days.” Since I’ve actually experienced growing one’s own food, for instance, I know the benefits of that aspect of simple living. Or maybe it comes from spending a few years in a fairly primitive living situation back in the 80s (no electricity, no water, living in a house made out of sticks and thatch, and worst of all, NO INTERNET). Being the richest person around for 50 miles in any direction may have warped me for life.

Simple Environmentalists
I also yearn for simplicity because I’m some kind of environmentalist. Not the kind that says we shouldn’t have babies or that we should hug trees (although I do like trees and I limited how many kids I had). I just don’t like wasting things, throwing things away that could be put to use some other way or living in the midst of too much stuff because all those things use up or mess up nature to some degree or another. Further, the idea that you can simply plant a tiny seed and it turns into something edible just fascinates me! I might even call the beauty of nature sacred—not to worship nature, but sacred in the sense that the clever detail and refreshing beauty seen in living things reveals a powerful God.

This will be the first in a series of articles about simple living. I want to eventually cover (in no particular order) topics like:

a theology of simple living, including voluntary poverty
appropriate technology
the time vs. money trade off
simple living experiments
simple living in urban vs. rural settings

I approach simple living as a believer. But there are lots of nonbelievers who hold to the simple life too, for reasons much different than mine–improved health, less participation in the rat race, social justice issues, nonchristian spirituality, and of course, a number of “green” reasons. I’m mentioning that just as a way to say that when I research the topic, I try to examine people’s motives so that I’m not participating in any one’s worship of Gaia.

I’ll start next Friday with a theology of simple living.

Zeal For Truth