Simple or complex?

I know that our discipline classes have been so spread out over the last two months. Spring Break took us away from getting together, and so many of us have been in and out of town. If you have paid attention though, you have noticed that the devotionals have not stopped on our devotional blog. There has been a discussion every day about involving ourselves in a spiritual discipline. The point of all of these times together is to help us grow closer to our Father, with the hopes that our faith in our God will overflow into the lives of our boys, our families, and our community. How are we doing? That is a question that we will be discussing next week in our final disciplines class. I do want us to prepare ourselves for that time together. We will be going through the disciplines we have discussed and sharing any thoughts or feelings we have had along the way.

“God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising.”
Ecclesiastes 7:30

Worries, stress, arguments, strife in marriage and friendships. How many of us have had at least one of these problems in our lives? As we have worked on our time with God, I know that there have been things in my life that have automatically changed because my time has been centered more on Him, than on myself. Some of you have made comments similar to this in emails, blog comments, and in your own personal journals that you have shared with me. We all have so many things in our lives that keep us from having more time to spend with God and our families as well. I would like to ask you to pause as you read this and make a list of things that you think you have placed ahead of your relationship with God.

God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising! I enjoy this quote. It sheds so much light on the problems that we have allowed to take over our lives. Remember those worries, stresses, arguments, and problems in relationships? How many of them were caused by God, and how many of them were caused by some of those things that we have allowed to come before God?

“The Christian discipline of simplicity is an inward reality that results in an outward life-style.” - Richard Foster from the book, Celebration of Discipline

We live in a world where everyone wants to have what their neighbor, co-worker, friends, and other family members have. I made that list of people because I have heard someone say as much about those people just this week. My own son was saying how much he wanted the Transformer that he had seen another child have. We want, want, want, but have you ever thought about what you give away with each and every thing you buy or receive?

I can look back on many of the problems I have been through in my life and many of them were caused by me misusing my time doing and getting things. What if we tried to think of our lives in a more simplistic manner? What might change if we focused on simplifying our own lives? These are questions that we will be discussing during this next few days. I do want to end this thought today by asking each of us to take our problems and give them to God. Ask him with sincerity to truly help you to do an overhaul on your spiritual life. Use some time in study, prayer, and solitude to think about your life and those you love, especially God and just meditate on some of the things we discussed today.

May God bless us as we seek simplicity.

Jason