The grassroots of Plain Living
Plain living has become more popular because of our cultural
emphasis on being healthy, eco-friendly and sustainable.
Following this train of thought can lead to confusion.
Throughout history plain living has had quite a few
definitions, often depending upon the individuals who practiced it.
But today, I’m just going to touch on the idea of plain
living from the Christian point of view.
Plain living is the outward expression of an inward change.
This inward change creates what we might call a simple life,
resulting from repentance. What is a simple life? Well,
it's not about sitting in an Adirondack chair on the porch, sipping
a latte while watching the sun set with friends. It's about agenda.
It's about goals and dreams. It's about how many irons you
have in the fire and how many marbles you're trying to manage on a
constantly moving table. We're a people of multiple agenda,
where line items are driven by personal need. We need money,
so we give our lives at work. We need a break so we anticipate
weekends and vacations. We long for retirement so we develop
investment portfolios. Left to ourselves our old nature will
pursue our fulfillment through all kinds of relationships and
circumstances, at work and at play. Our need for security,
pleasure, purpose and value are demanding and insatiable. They
demand an ever-growing investment, creativity and a high level of
management. This expanding agenda creates chaos as one line item
neutralizes the other.
A simple life occurs when personal agenda has been reduced to
one thing: ‘Loving the
Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and body’. Responding
to this simple truth frees a person to ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself’. This simple
life has no competing agenda.
Yet, interestingly enough, it is possible to believe that God
is one's priority, while continuing to
live according to pattern of
this world. This
happens without the slightest plan. It happens by instinct, an
impulse of our old nature.
Too often his invitation to join with him can simply become
just another line item on a constantly growing and changing agenda.
It’s very possible to simply add him to your frantic
complexity by misunderstanding what he’s after.
Even when we understand that a simple life comes from a
simplified agenda, our old nature resists.
Our old nature is completely vested in the
pattern of this world;
trying to meet internal needs through the managing of external
resources, circumstances and relationships.
God has commanded us to deliberately distance ourselves from
the pattern of this world,
because the world’s system creates a frantic confusion.
But more than chaos, the pattern of this world is actually
idolatry. It’s the
practice of giving credibility to things that can’t meet our needs.
At times our need
seems to be the problem, but its not. Our need is simply a
homing-beacon designed to point us to him.
Yet, sin automatically steps in when we cast about for our
own answers through instinctual habits, family conditioning and the
cultural definitions of fulfillment.
When we attempt our own answers, we need options and juggling
those options creates chaos.
A simple life breaks this cycle, beginning at repentance.
Here, one begins to experience actual fulfillment; agenda
shrivels and the door to a new lifestyle opens.
Here is where plain living comes into the picture.
It's a lifestyle that grows from the ground of a simple life.
Finally, we no longer have to find satisfaction in careers.
We no longer need to accumulate for image, security or pleasure, nor do we
have to impress ourselves and/or others with our accomplishments.
We can simply live a quiet life with him, looking out for the
needs of others with the power that he provides.
Our need presents the opportunity to experience his internal
fulfillment without changing external circumstances.
Our prayer for help focuses within, rather than asking him to
fix things around us. This changes our character. This is the
will of God.
There are many nuances
to plain living, but it’s no use considering them until we
understand the ground from which they grow.
Authentic plain living grows from a simple life, flowing from
a single agenda. If this
hasn’t occurred, then the practice of plain living simply becomes
another line item within our multiple agenda, causing more stress.
But once we’ve come to repentance, chaos begins to dissipate
and a whole new world opens up.