The Simple Life
Psalm 27:4
One thing I have desired…to behold the beauty of the LORD…
2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the SIMPLICITY that is in Christ.
In between some pressing tasks of the day recently, taking a breath with staff I joked, “Why can’t life just be simple?…”
If I had to make a definition of ‘the simple life’ it would be a life that is easy, a life with no stress, no worries, peaceful, no lack – all needs met.
‘You’re dreaming Mel!’… Going about life the way the world tells us to live, I would have to agree. But going by the life the Bible talks about, this simple life is really what God wants to give us, His children. (Romans 8:16)
John 10:10
I [Jesus] have come that they may have LIFE and that they may have it more abundantly.
Matthew 11: 28-30
Come to Me [Jesus], all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…My yoke is EASY and My burden is light.
Philippians 4: 6-7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the PEACE of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Psalm 23:1
The LORD [Jesus] is my shepherd, I shall not lack.
These promises above of: abundant life, rest, ease, no anxieties, peace and no lack all come from seeing Jesus. If all these things could come to us by obeying God’s law, Jesus would not be in any of these promises. (Romans 10:4, Galatians 2:21) Jesus has made it possible for us to live ‘the simple, happy life!’
The Bible explains that life gets complicated and confusing not because we don’t have certain tangible things we may be currently lacking, but because we have forgotten that all our sins, past, present and future have all been completely forgiven through Jesus’ death on the cross. (Colossians 2:13)
2 Peter 1: 5-9
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he WAS CLEANSED from his old sins.
When things feel so complicated, tiring and stressful it is like being blind. I feel like I ‘can’t see’ what I am meant to do, I ‘can’t see’ how things are going to happen, my mind doesn’t feel clear or at peace.
The Bible explains that knowledge of Jesus IS the knowledge of the complete forgiveness of our sins. With this knowledge – this simplicity that is in Christ – sight returns for our situation and peace returns to our hearts and minds. (2 Peter 1:5-9, 2 Corinthians 11:3)
David in Psalm 27:4 above; expressed one thing he desired – to behold the beauty of the Lord. God sent Jesus, His only Son, not to ask of us to do more for Him to earn the simple life but to actually give it to us. Jesus fulfilled the ‘ten things’ of God’s law so that today we get to only ‘do’ one thing – see Jesus, see the complete forgiveness of all your sins. (Matthew 5:17)
God loves you and me greatly! To demonstrate it, He sent us Jesus. He loved you way back at the cross, He loves you now, and He will love you forever, Amen!
(Ephesians 2:4-9, Romans 5:8, Revelation 1:8)
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