There is something very powerful and very sacred about the simple life. The life that finds God’s gracious and glorious presence even in the mundane. Simplicity makes the profane sacred.
Simplicity is the attempt eliminate means of distraction. While technology has greatly improved the standard of living for many by facilitating rapid communication, it doesn’t come without the evil of being a major source of distraction. So much information and entertainment there at our fingertips at all moments.
There is hardly a moment to pause and experience Him.
The Scriptures make it clear that God has created the world in such a way that his presence is built into the fabric of the universe. General revelation, to be specific. In deep, yet simple and focused contemplation we can hear the voice of God.
A life of intense distraction means that we’ve pushed all all things of deep substance that God wishes to use to reveal him to us. There’s very little stuff of substance left in our lives through which God can relate himself to in order to whisper to us, “This is who I am.”
In the moments of minimized distraction and heart focus, we have a posture through which God can speak. This is our way of seeking the Lord. Putting down the cell phone and asking him to speak.
Simplicity is a spiritual discipline. This means that it takes work to accomplish. It doesn’t come naturally. This point reveals the nature of distraction: it’s easy. It’s accessible. There are always things asking for our attention. Whether it’s checking email, cleaning up, writing that note, going to the store, watching that movie; there are any number of small tasks that can constantly occupy us.
The reality is that there will always be things left undone. There is never a time in human existence that all things are “finished.” The world keeps turning around us. This is why is so challenging to stop.
This is the point where simplicity links up to a theology of sabbath. Sabbath, being a inexhaustible mine of revelation, functions to remind us that God alone is the source of life, not us, nor our activities. We can stop working because God never stops. The world is dependent on Him, not us.
Simplicity does something similar. Living a simple life is a testimony to the fact that God is the central actor in our lives; that the details of our lives depend on him. Rather than putting our own activities at the heart of our daily living, we must allow God to take center stage. This will help us to slow down, simplify, and find deep fulfillment in Him.
This is, sadly, one of the woes of capitalism as it shapes and reinforces the western worldview. Capitalism and industry, by making economic concerns the heart of what we do and who we are, tempts us to think that our value is equal to that which we produce and contribute to the world. This causes us to villianized rest and simplicity (this also causes to naturally assume that people who are poor are less valuable). This is why it’s so hard for those of us from the western world to rest: because we feel guilty. We’re a product of our environment when this happens.
My point here is this, the spiracle discipline of simplicity can a resounding impact through every contour of human existence. Let us return to a simple life.
