Simplicity

>> February 24, 2010

One needs to be dispossessed of the possessions that possess – before one can be possessed of God.
~Ann Voscamp

I have been overwhelmed with a feeling of clutter in my life lately.
I need to clean out my closets and spare room
and let's not mention the garage.
It even goes beyond the physical stuff to things like my computer hard drive, which is nearly at capacity and desperately needs to be cleaned up and organized.
I'm ready to purge so much stuff.
Over the past 6 months, God has been opening my eyes to what I really need.

We have been studying Matthew chapter 6 in our life group
and this is exactly the discussion that entailed last week -
God knows what we need and He WILL provide for those needs
The problems come with how OUR definition of need meets up with God's definition.
How often I call wants needs.

We don't need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. Not wanting something is as good as possessing it. ~Donald Horban

So we've committed this week to the spiritual discipline of simplicity -
only spending money on sincere needs.
And for me it means some purging.
And most importantly, praying for God to change my definition of need -
to align my desires with His desires.

Because simplicity starts from within.

Its easy to deny oneself for a week or maybe even a month if you know that, eventually, your commitment to denying that thing will be over and you can have it again.
I don't want just a week long or month long change though -
I want my desires to be in line with God's desires.

What if I started praying this prayer...

O God, I beg two favors from you; let me have them before I die.
First, help me never to tell a lie.
Second, give me neither poverty nor riches!
Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”
And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.
Proverbs 30:7-9

What if you started praying that prayer?
Give me neither poverty nor riches. Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
That is SIMPLICITY.

3 responses:

Crystal Keilers, that's me. February 26, 2010 at 4:15 PM  

Wow. A lot to think about. And I would bet you will feel God's comfort as never before. Because so often that's what "things" are to us.

Christy February 27, 2010 at 9:45 AM  

Great post friend. :)I've been thinking alot about those things lately as well.

Eileen March 2, 2010 at 11:04 AM  

Excellent! So true, so good. I am an impulse buyer, and since I've been single and my kids on their own, I indulge myself way too often with STUFF! A great reminder to be satisfied with needs, not wants.

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