Episode #278 The One Thing That Changes Everything – Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Hey friends, it's Jen. Today in this episode, we're talking about living a simpler life and how it's actually a lot more attainable than we might think that it is. This invitation to simplicity feels refreshing and alluring to me right now we're in a season as a family where our schedules are packed, and I have a lot of exciting work projects going on that also take a good amount of my time.

And I love getting to do ministry and raise my kids, but there can just be so many things to manage in our day-to-day worlds. And that includes all the accumulation of stuff. You know, managing, maintaining, grocery runs and cleaning out closets and clearing out clutter. There can be so many things in life that feel complex. But simplicity sets everything in proper order and proper perspective.

And maybe it's because I've been researching this topic a little, but I'm also finding that my social media feeds are full of different ideas to simplify. Simple meal preps that you can do one day for the whole week, building capsule wardrobes so that you have repeat outfits you can go back to, ways to streamline schedules and discipleship moments with your kids. And everything seems to have a way to be simplified, which is great. However, one of the things I wanna talk about today is how simplicity is something that actually begins inwardly and then flows externally.

As you know, if you've been around the podcast recently, I'm rereading the book, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, and we're in this chapter talking about simplicity as a spiritual discipline. Richard says, “Contemporary culture lacks both the inward reality and the outward life-style of simplicity. We must live in the modern world, and we are affected by its fractured and fragmented state. We are trapped in a maze of competing attachments. One moment we make decisions on the basis of sound reason and the next moment out of fear of what others will think of us. We have no unity or focus around which our lives are oriented.”

And so he says that simplicity actually allows us this reorientation to be centered on the thing that matters most.

And he also says, "May God give you—and me—the courage, the wisdom, the strength always to hold the kingdom of God as the number-one priority of our lives. To do so is to live in simplicity.”

He goes on to talk about how “Focus upon the kingdom produces the inward reality, and without the inward reality we will degenerate into legalistic trivia. Nothing else can be central. The desire to get out of the rat race cannot be central, the redistribution of the world's wealth cannot be central, the concern for ecology cannot be central. Seeking first God's kingdom and the righteousness, both personal and social.”

And I loved this perspective because I can get drawn to all the things to do. Oh, I'm gonna reorganize my calendar. I'm gonna try a different meal planning method. I'm gonna do something new with my closet. And none of those are bad things, but all of these outward expressions, even, I'm going to spend more time in the word. Those goals towards simplicity must first be rooted in this invitation. We have to seek God's kingdom first. This is an invitation to keep the main thing, the main thing, and to let all other priorities, including spiritual disciplines and work and family and relationships, fall into place around him.

Matthew 6:33 – Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Psalm 27:4 – One thing I ask from the Lord… that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Philippians 3:13-14 – But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

There are many good things that we get to do in our lives. It is good to steward our families and our time well. It is good to grow as Christ followers. And the way we do those things well is by orienting ourself first to the first thing.

I've been convicted as I'm reading these passages and as I'm reading the book because I don't know that I could say, the one thing I ask of the Lord is to dwell in his house … but I want that to be true of me. And so today's question is a helpful heart check that each of us can use from time to time to talk with God about ways that we can grow in this area and how we can check on our priorities.

And so here's that question that you can take to him today:

God, what's a desire or passion of my heart that I need to surrender to you as secondary as I seek you and your kingdom first?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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