Luke 12: 29-31
29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
In the first point to not worry what we eat or drink, we are called not to be anxious about the provisions in the future life.
Our second point reemphasizes with this verse: Luke 12:15
15Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
Note that in Luke 12:34, 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The central teaching of Jesus on the simple life highlights first that this life is preoccupied with God - seeking first the kingdom - but second acknowledging that 'all the rest' (Luke 12:31) fall into their right and rightful place. Jesus warned that possessions in life is not the main quality of life, if this becomes our primary focus, then our feelings and motivations will be attached. How easy it is to live 'a life of faith', telling ourselves that we are concentrating on seeking first the kingdom of God, while knowing fully well in our heart that if this faith life fails, we have stored up abundances somewhere that will carry us through. There's an agony in actions to practice what is written in these verses. Eller wrote; "...be very clear, this is not to say that it is immaterial whether the simple life has a concrete manifestation or not. No, no, no; It is incredible that a person could freely and wholeheartedly choose God and become the absolutely obedient to him without it making some change in his relationship to things of the world. If some sort of outward change did not take place it rightly could be suspected whether he had actually chosen God. That change, of course, will be in the direction of simplicity, a lessened evaluation of what the world promotes as important. Yet, nevertheless, no one can dictate specifies to another; each person, with God's help, will have to evolve his style of simple living for himself".
John McInnes wrote, it worries me that Christians as for others the luxuries of yesterday have become the necessities of today and that the luxuries of today will be the necessities of tomorrow. Our community we lived in are calling for this, to be safe than to be sorry. The church of the Laodiceans in Revelation Chapter 3, a church that was being well taught and firmly established in the time of Paul. They have become lukewarm: one of the heaviest condemnation in the scriptures; I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Rev 3:16. Was their sin a doctrinal error? No! It was materialistic takeover. They have been sucked in by the culture of their day in terms of wealth (I am rich), position (I have prospered), and possessions (I need nothing) (verse 17).
The final question remains, what do we do?
Bishop Taylor says, it is not enough to say these things; our world is waiting for concrete examples in realizations. It is not enough to point out the contrast between our idolatry of Growth and the Bible's theology of Enough: we have to opt out of the drift and help one another to live in cheerful protest against it. We must not wait for all Christians to be persuaded of the need for this, neither should we waste out time designing a single rule of life for those who are so persuaded.
In the end, it is still our individual response and decision. The pressure of the consumer society is so strong. It is difficult to stand against the trend. We may need to keep each other accountable and on the mark. That's why Christian Fellowship play such an important role. Finally, simplicity is not a side issue. Nor it is to preserve of the ultra-bright or the super-spiritual. It is RADICAL living, if radical means going to the radical or the heart of the issue. The solution? we make one decision that will LAST forever. A true and individually satisfying answer to the question of the simplicity will demand that we give the Christ Lordship over the whole of our lives and not even the whole of our personal, private and reflective lives but over our living patterns as well.
[Excerpt from article, Simplicity, John McInnes, IFES]
WE are called not to worry for our well-being, because God will provide
(Our Jehovah Jireh).
