Do you ever feel like life is too complicated? Or have you ever found yourself saying things like, “I just can’t take this. It’s all too much!” In the world we live, it’s easy to get to this point. Many people feel so pressured by the expectations of others that it causes them to be frustrated, miserable and confused about what they should do. When life is simple, our awareness of God is as central to life as the air we breathe.
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 (NLT) “Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before”
Proverbs 13:7 (MSG) A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life.
1 Corinthians 7:29-31 (MSG) “I do want to point out, friends, that time is of the essence. There is no time to waste, so don’t complicate your lives unnecessarily. Keep it simple —in marriage, grief, joy, whatever. Even in ordinary things—your daily routines of shopping, and so on. Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out.”
Jesus said, Matthew. 6:33 RSV “Seek first his kingdom … and all these things shall be yours as well.” This is the foundation of the simple life.
Luke 8:14-15 (NLT) 14 The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. 15 And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.”
We will suffer when we let “life’s worries” get in our way. In order to simplify our lives, we may need to detach ourselves from some of the things that are getting in our way. The simple life is a life of prayer—more listening and waiting on God than speaking and asking. We seek the kingdom by seeking an awareness of God. God becomes the focus of what we do.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 (AMP) “Then I commended pleasure and enjoyment, because a man [without God] has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be merry, for this will stand by him in his toil through the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.”
Don’t stop making plans and goals. Don’t give up dreaming of what could be. These are important and give direction. Grow, work, seek after God, live every day with Him, find others to love and serve and enjoy and learn to be thankful every day.