Have you ever found yourself longing for a simpler life? I know I have. I'm around way too much drama, and it just gets to be overwhelming. I have to put up a little wall around myself so that this stuff doesn't start affecting me. I truly, truly, truly long for simplicity.

The Heart of True Simplicity

Simplicity isn't just about having fewer possessions or a less cluttered schedule. It's an inward reality that manifests in our outward lives. There are three things that contribute to a spirit of simplicity:

  1. Understanding that what we have is a gift from God
  2. Knowing that what we have is to be cared for by God
  3. Making what we have available to others when it is clearly right and good

Unfortunately, we live in a day and time when people look to say, "Look at all that I've gotten. Look at all that I've accomplished in life. Look at my life that I've built up," and then we're hesitant about letting go because we've worked so hard to get these things. That is not a simplistic or simple life.

Setting Clear Priorities

Jesus taught that we've got to settle the matter of priorities. When we settle the matter of priorities, life will become much, much, much more simple for us. If you have a clear understanding in your life who is most important, what is most important—and you can't have a laundry list, I mean, that kind of does away with the sense of importance—two or three things in your life that are just very vital to you, you'll be on your way.

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lived during the Nazi regime in Germany, said: "To be simple is to fix one's eye solely on the simple truth of God... Such a focus will set us free from double-mindedness and enable us to cut through the Gordian knots of life."

Seek First His Kingdom

In Matthew 6:33, Jesus concludes his famous teaching about how God cares for the birds and flowers by saying, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be provided to you."

What does it mean to seek? It means to get to the bottom of a matter. It means that there's something going on out there that you're not going to stop. You're not going to have peace until you've got to the core of what it's all about.

The tense indicates that it's not something we do one time, but it is a command that we're doing over and over. It means to turn to God first for help, to fill our thoughts with his desires, to take his character for ours, to serve and obey him in everything we do.

He is number one. There's not a close second. When we get up in the morning, we're thinking about God. When we go to bed tonight, we're thinking about God and his plans and his desires. More than anything else in life, more than I want to retire, I want God. More than you might want health, you want God. More than you want your aches and pains to go away, you want God.

Seek His Righteousness

Seeking God's righteousness means living as God requires. It's a commitment to find and do the will of God, to line oneself up totally with his purpose.

If you haven't noticed, the world's ways of doing things are so drastically different from God's ways. And if you owe it to no one else, you owe it to God to do things his way.

If you want to see how we are to live, look to none other than Jesus. He said, "I'm going to give you a template, a model, a demonstration on how to live your life."

God's Promise: All These Things Will Be Added

Jesus promises, "All these things will be provided to you." That phrase literally means "laid up against you." I picture myself sitting here, and God is just coming to me and laying these things next to me: "I want you to have this. Can I give you this? I'd like for you to have it."

He does that only when I choose to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. Not because I've sought these things—I've been too busy seeking his kingdom and his righteousness—but these things that have tended to cause anxiety and stress will be taken care of because I've made that decision.

Putting It Into Practice

  1. Make God your absolute priority: Start and end each day focused on God rather than your worries.
  2. Live according to God's standards: Look to Jesus as your model for how to treat others, even when it's difficult.
  3. Be part of God's provision for others: Consider how you might be the answer to someone else's prayer. "Could it possibly be that God has blessed you in order for you to be a blessing to other people?"
  4. Trust God's process: When we put ourselves in God's processes, "we will be amazed at what God will do."

When we truly seek God's kingdom first, we find the simplicity we've been longing for. Our priorities become clear, our anxieties diminish, and we discover a peace that comes from knowing we're living according to God's design. It doesn't get any better than this.