Last night I attended a women's gathering called Power Source through the church I am working at this summer, a sort of bible study that takes place on the first Monday of every month. A sweet and humble woman in the church opens up her home and presents a devotional, with each one varying from the one before it. As we all made ourselves comfortable on the outside patio and breathed in the fresh air of the warm summer evening, we gathered 'round our servant-hearted speaker, Laura, and listened as she shared what she believed the Holy Spirit was asking her to tell us. She'd been reading through a book by Jen Hatmaker called Seven, a writing centered around the beauty and sanctification that comes through simplifying a life made to follow after Jesus Christ.
What the author proceeds to do throughout her book is, in a form, to fast regarding different areas of her life-seven, to be exact, with each category taking one month to accomplish. The point in her experiment is to intentionally push excessive indulgence out of her life in order to fight against what many people-especially in America-fall captive to, sicknesses such as greed, materialism, and overindulgence, among others. Her words would speak to me no matter what her religious affiliation, because anyone can experience and capture through writing the beauty of simplifying, but because she is a Christian and every action performed is out of a heart moved by the Holy Spirit and her focus is one that never strays from Jesus Christ, the novel speaks to me in deep and glorious ways.
So, there I was surrounded by strong, empowering women who love the Lord with all of their hearts and souls, and as I listened to the words Laura spoke to us, all I could think was how coincidental all of this was, because in the past year God has convicted me of much regarding consumerism and worldly pleasures, and even in the car on the way to the study my dear friend and mentor Michelle discussed what it looks like to simplify. Clearly, God was stirring my heart for something big. The question remained (and today remains): what, specifically?
As I sat there listening to truth being spoken into our midst, I mentally (and sometimes verbally) 'amened' various points made. I realized that these lessons of simplifying were ones the Lord has been teaching me over the past year and especially during this summer. Now, in the moment, it was as if He was re-enforcing this idea of simplicity. For a moment, I was overjoyed! God, I thought, you've taught me this! I've recently not only heard these truths but taken steps of faith and lived them! Then, in a moment just a swift as the first, I realized that He wasn't-and isn't-finished with me yet.
He's never finished with us.
I've learned lessons of simplicity over the past year. I've learned what it looks like to cut the chord from possessions so that I can release my grip on things that fade. I've seen what it is to receive my blessings in such a way that all I can do is give so that I can in turn bless others. I've learned not to put my identity in makeup, clothes, or whatever else, because that's what all of this is about: identity.
So, then, why did God even have me at the study, you may ask? If He's broken down walls in my heart for Him so that my hope can be built on nothing less than Jesus Christ, then why would He have me sit and soak in more truth of the same I've been soaking in for the past thirteen months?
I'm sure the reasons are endless, but here are just a few that the Lord weighed heavy on my heart last night:
Truth can never be exhausted.
It doesn't matter if I hear a message one time or twenty-it should ring true and hit home every time. Perhaps I'm reading a scripture I've had memorized since I was seven. Maybe I'm listening to someone give a message over a topic I've heard before. Whatever the case, I'm obviously hearing it for a reason (or many) and God can reveal more to me each time in ways I would've never imagined. Even if I'm not having a new sort of revelation, I can at least see truth being emphasized to serve as a reminder for my soul of how to live and why. Truth can always take us deeper. We can never be too far into the waters of spiritual goodness.
Not only are we looking toward holiness, but we are receiving happiness.
A heart for Christ is a heart that yearns for Him in all aspects, and we desire this because we have recognized our brokenness and we have seen his perfection. As Tim Keller said, 'Faith is a response to the revelation of light'. We know His authority, and so out of a healthy fear-a respect-we fall on our knees before His throne, because He is God. We do not live, however, under condemnation, and so because we know grace, we know love-not legalism. God is not just a God of authority-He is a God of love. He loves us. He loves us. He loves us and He wants good for us, so anytime we enter into holiness, we are entering into happiness, because being more like Jesus makes us more complete. His love makes us whole, so in pursuing spiritual principles such as simplifying, yes, we are experiencing sanctification-becoming more and more like Jesus-but we are also experiencing spiritual fulfillment, even if at first it feels like sacrifice, because to become like Jesus is to become who we are meant to be.
Striving for the Law is meant to be out of a pure heart.
I hesitate to even present the idea of focusing on the action of simplifying itself, because it is not about the work at all. If all I do is make a list of what I need to rid in my life and what I don't, then I might as well not even follow through with it. What I mean is this: our works should not be because we are trying to fulfill God's standard. If this is our goal, then we will never reach it, because on our own, we are messy. We are imperfect. The only way to achieve holiness is to fix our eyes on the only One who is holy: Jesus Christ. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, our lives work themselves out. The more we know Jesus, the more we will grow in our love for Him, and the more our love for Him grows, the more our faith in Him will solidify. When our faith is truly in Jesus, then that faith will manifest itself through our works so that our lives will naturally produce fruit that is glorifying to Him. I do not mean that knowing Jesus will make our lives easy, if anything it should be hard, but knowing Jesus will help us know peace in the midst of chaos. Knowing Jesus will help us become servant-hearted. Knowing Jesus will mold our hearts into the heart He wants for us, which doesn't mean we won't experience trials, suffering, or hardship, but rather because we have a heart like Jesus we will know how to respond to all of those things. Following Jesus is not supposed to be easy, but it is supposed to be beautiful.
I'm not completely sure what the Lord is calling me to regarding simplification, except that He's made me to live it, but I think He's preparing me for something deeper centered around this topic. It continues to come up in my life, so in the following weeks I'll saturate my questions in prayer (and I invite you to join with me), because I know He is showing me these truths for big reasons. I may blog through a series of simplification in the future, but for now I'm not sure. Right now I am only certain that we are all meant to simplify every moment of our lives-whatever the category-out of a loving heart for the only One worth placing our identity in, and the truth is, He is enough. The point of simplifying is not to be rid of worldly pleasures. The point of simplifying is to fill ourselves up with the only delight that will sustain us. His grace is sufficient, and once we grasp that, we realize that no other worldly pleasure could possibly satisfy our souls, so, in that, being rid of worldly pleasures becomes a benefit of simplifying rather than the whole point of it.
Here's to a bit of confusion and a whole lot of clarity!
