The Simple Life

When I speak of the “Simple Life,” I am not advocating being a simpleton. As Oswald Chambers puts it, “Don’t mistake simplicity for stupidity.” It is not simplemindedness, but “simple- mindfulness.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book, Letters and Papers from Prison” tells us, “Simplicity is an intellectual achievement, one of the greatest.” The simple life requires a lot of thought.

Our Lord’s life was a very simple one in the midst of a complicated world. You might say His was a simple life on a higher plane. The reason for this was that God controlled it. Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to say, “Simplicity is life’s most becoming garb.” Is this not why His life is so becoming to each of us who name His name?

Many of us have created our own clutter. We have a spiritual “junk yard,” where we have amassed so much litter that we can’t perform those few necessary things for all the unnecessary piled up. Many of us need a good housecleaning. Good minor things become bad the second they keep us from the major things.

Paul warned the “spiritual” and “intellectual” church at Corinth to beware lest their minds be corrupted from the “simplicity that is in Christ.” Our lives are to be lived childlike. Need I explain that?

God grant that I may live upon this earth

And face the tasks that every morning brings

And never lose the glory and the worth

Of humble service and the simple things.

(Edgar A. Guest)