True Simplicity For The Weary Woman

This Fall the ladies at the CHK Message Board will be participating in a Bible study about becoming a woman of simplicity.  Before I started preparing for this study I asked myself some questions. What does it mean to simplify? Why does everyone want to simplify their lives?

I am sure that 100 years from now history writers will comment on what is surely a movement in our society to simplify. You can find information about simplicity in life and thought all over the internet, and you don’t even have to get online to find books and seminars about living a simple life.

Everyone seems to have a definition of simplicity, too. Some people define simplicity as living off the land, making bread and other foods from scratch. Others believe simplicity has to do with living off the grid, making their own electricity with solar power and growing their own vegetables. Some people teach that simplicity is a matter of worshiping God in certain ways. Still others believe it has to do with how they dress and how their homes are furnished.

All those areas can definitely be areas of simplicity. God knows I’ve tried most of them. But when I hear the admonishment, “Simplify!” I am always left with questions; How? Why? And I am always left wanting by tutorials and lessons that supposedly teach how to life a simple life – I think, there must be something more to this…. but what?

I started a few years ago thinking, praying and writing about simplicity. I haven’t had too much to say about it because I haven’t felt as though I really understood why we want to simplify. I would start to write about it and come up with more questions than answers.

For example; In writing about living a simple life by growing a garden, canning vegetables, hanging out clothes to dry, sewing my clothes and cooking from scratch …. I am confronted by the reality that doing those things not only doesn’t simplify the life of a woman who does not currently do them…. it actually complicates her life by making it more busy and more demanding!

So I put the article about simplicity away and thought some more.

Then I started writing about simplicity and the idea that perhaps we just have too much stuff. I realized I was on to something. Too much stuff is something that everyone can decide for themselves with a little help. But what things? How many things? If I got rid of my TV would you as well? Probably not. So we can’t get too specific with what things we need to get rid of. Again, it was obvious, though getting rid of stuff definitely can create a feeling of simplicity, this wasn’t true simplicity.

So I went back to scripture. Here is the first thing I found about simplicity. …

But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3

God doesn’t call us to detach ourselves from things … He calls us to attach ourselves to HIM. That is where true simplicity lies; in Jesus Himself. We’ve been led astray by the thought that we need something more than Him.

In drawing closer to Him we may find that we must turn loose somethings in our life. Most of us are definitely way too busy and have too much dumb stuff in our lives. Most of the busy-ness and over-abundance of stuff  is of our own making. So we must all do some serious thinking about what to let go of. But the issue at the heart of simplicity is one of attachment to the Lord Jesus. And the really awesome and sweet thing about our God is that when we grow closer to Him, we just detach from our things, little by little, and we see that they have no lasting value.

A. W. Tozer wrote …

“We Christians must simplify our lives or lose untold treasure on earth and in eternity. Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible. It wears us out by multiplying distractions and beats us down by destroying our solitude, where otherwise we might drink and renew our strength before going out to face the world again.“

Finally, I understand from scripture that a part of living a simple life is learning to rest. God modeled rest for us when He rested from the act of creation. He established a rest with Abraham before the 10 Commandments were ever given. There are other Biblical accounts of the importance of  rest. So He intends for us to rest. Resting brings simplicity because we are forced to pull back from the busy-ness of life and in that space of rest, we are alone with God.

So after all the dust settled from my thinking and praying I came to this conclusion; a life of simplicity is marked by…

1. a single-minded devotion to Jesus,
2. removing activities from my life that keep me from attaching myself to Him more firmly
3. resting when I need to rest

Simplicity isn’t simple when it adds more burdens to your life. Simplicity ceases to be simple when it complicates your life. True simplicity brings peace and rest.  In fact, if we’re not careful, true simplicity is so simple, that we’re likely to miss it altogether.

The simplicity Jesus offers in Matthew 11:28-30 is truly simple. Drawing closer to Him, living for Him alone and learning His ways will bring simplicity. This is where my efforts to find simplicity have led me and where I am focused:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.