What is Simple Living?
I have come that they may have life, and life abundantly (John 10:10).
Michael Schut, in Simpler Living, Compassionate Life, argues that voluntary simplicity is an important component of, and pathway to, that abundant life promised by Jesus. He describes a lasting, viable voluntary simplicity this way:
- Celebrating those things for which we are grateful: friendships, community, family, the arts, good health, the beauty and mystery of creation. Enriching our lives with such lasting gifts rather than with the increased consumption of consumer goods.
- Recognizing that simplicity must not only be a path to personal growth but a path leading to greater equity and justice; and that without equity, sustainability cannot be achieved.
- Recognizing the importance of developing communities of support - small groups celebrating life and supporting one another's change.
- Recognizing that both individual change and political action are necessary; and advocating for a society characterized by a "politics of simplicity."
- Recognizing that change is needed not only in daily living habits but in our ways of thinking (worldviews).
- Recognizing that simplicity for the Christian community is not just self-actualization but a spiritual pilgrimage, "loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself."
The essence of voluntary simplicity is summarized in Doris Longacre, Living More with Less:
- Doing Justice
- Learning from the World Community
- Cherishing the Natural Order
- Celebrating Responsibly
- Nonconforming Freely
Nancy Twigg summarizes abundant living:
- Responsible spending and financial peace of mind
- Good stewardship of our money, time, talent, and environment
- Shunning materialism and embracing richness in relationships
- A simplified, Christ-like lifestyle with an emphasis on spiritual growth and service
- A full appreciation and enjoyment of each of the many blessings we have been given
A Slower Pace: An Introduction
The Simple Life, by Vernard Eller
According to Eller,
The one most crucial statement regarding the simple life undoubtedly is that which concludes the long passage on the subject in the Sermon on the Mount:
But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. (Mt. 6:33)
Here is the absolutely essential premise upon which thought, faith, and practice must build if the result is to qualify as the simple life in any Christian sense. There is a "first," and there is an "all the rest." The Gospel never attempts to deny the reality or validity of the "all the rest." Nevertheless, a hard and fast distinction is to be maintained between them; no confusion can be allowed....
It is abundantly clear, first of all, that Jesus demanded as an exclusive priority that a person center his life, loyalty, and valuations solely upon God. It is clear, in the second place, that his understanding of the simple life devolves entirely from this premise. Thus the doctrine of the simple life is indeed simplicity itself and can be very simply put: one is living the simple life when his ultimate loyalty is directed solely to God and when, in consequence, he lets every other concern flow out of, fall in behind, and witness to this one. That simply it can be put, and that simple it would stay--except for the inveterate human tendency that works both consciously and unconsciously to take advantage of the inward invisibility of that prime commitment in order to justify and secure for ourselves modes of living that do in fact spring from quite contrary motivations.
Biblical Basis for Simpler Lifestyles
Give me neither poverty nor riches,
grant me only my share of bread to eat,
for fear that surrounded by plenty, I should fall away
and say, "Yahweh - who is Yahweh?"
or else in destitution, take to stealing
and profane the name of my God.Proverbs 30:8-9 (Jerusalem Bible)
There are two ways to get enough: one is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.
G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
Contentment is natural wealth; luxury, artificial poverty.
Socrates (B.C. 469-399)
Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is 'finding his place in it' while really it is finding his place in him.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Screwtape Letters
Simple Living Links
Alternatives for Simple Living
Voluntary Simplicity & Simple Living Resource Guide
Center for a New American Dream