I was born into an Anabaptist home, but I am not an Anabaptist solely because of that. I do, however, consider it very influential and a blessing. But, I am a happy Anabaptist! I believe conservative Anabaptism, although filled with imperfect people, has strengths as a system of Biblical interpretation that I haven’t seen elsewhere. It takes Jesus and His Word seriously. For example, I’m glad to be part of a group that believes we should love our enemies, because that’s what Jesus said.
However, one way some of us struggle to follow Jesus’ commands is in the area of materialism. It is easy to fall into the values of the culture around us, and spend many of our working years accumulating things we don’t need. Mark Eicher recently said something to the effect that “What evangelicals do with Jesus’s teaching on non-resistance, Anabaptists do with materialism.” Ouch! Are we guilty of ignoring what Jesus taught? If so, why? Several reasons come to mind:
- Fear of what others might think if I drive an older car, live in a simple house, or have an older phone.
- We might actually fall for the lie in commercialism that asserts that things make us happy.
- It could be part of our Enemy’s strategy to distract us from the work of the Kingdom.
- What if it is a lack of genuine admiration for our Saviour, and the way He lived?
Simple living is not trying to stifle desire, like a Buddhist. It is desiring what satisfies. So let’s consider these four:
1) How can we be free of fear of what others think, or of missing out?
FOMO (fear of missing out) is a real thing that we can all struggle with. How can we turn FOMO into JOMO (joy of missing out)?
The answer often lies in our identity. How do I see myself? Does my worth, or sense of value, come from what others think, or from what Jesus thinks? When Moses was afraid to lead the people, what did God tell him? That he had what it takes? No, God promised that He would be with Moses. In Hebrews 13:5-6 we are commanded to be content, and notice the reason:
Heb 13:5 Let your conversation (lifestyle) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Heb 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
So, the reason we can be content is the promise that Jesus will never, never (Greek tense) leave us! Perhaps in many ways this is the core truth that God is trying to teach us by allowing us to go through many trials. That our identity must be in Him, and come from Him. Not in our achievements, or accumulations, or accolades. Not in what others think of us. In Him.
In all generations, fear has led to compromise, but the danger is especially real today. There was a time when we really didn’t know what “everybody” else thought. We were fairly sheltered. That isn’t true today! FOMO is real. There is so much pressure through social media and the internet, and there are so many things that can keep us from having a deep, satisfying relationship with Christ. Peer pressure is especially intense when we are young, but we older people need to fight comparison, too. The answer is in our identity being in Christ.
2) How can we be satisfied in God rather than things?
When I was in college, I remember studying about the poem by John Keats called Ode to a Grecian Urn. John Keats was a Romantic author, one who valued feelings over reason. When he looked at a 2,000 year old vase, with two pictures carved on it, he felt it depicted the height of pleasure! It portrayed a group of people on their way to a religious festival on one side, (maybe like when the Israelites were headed to Jerusalem) and on the other a man about to catch a woman. Keats called this “secured anticipation.” It’s that moment when you know something is going to happen, but it has not happened yet.
Now, hopefully that second illustration of a man nearly catching a woman hasn’t been our experience! The “anticipation” doesn’t need to be the highest point of pleasure if we are both wanting to exemplify Christ and His church. In the world though, we see this happening. But when it comes to things, we know about secured anticipation, and “buyer’s remorse”. I recently bought a truck that I had my eye on for several years. After not having put any antifreeze in my previous truck for the 11 years I owned it, I wound up adding antifreeze to the “new” truck in the first week! Thankfully it was a relatively simple fix, but there have been many times I have purchased something and quite soon lost the excitement I had right before the purchase. We do tend to think things will make us happy, but if we are honest, we know they don’t. Jesus addressed this clearly in Luke 12:15:
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
Remember the context? A man had asked Jesus to intervene because the man’s brother wouldn’t divide the inheritance with him. To us, Jesus’ response may have seemed rather uncaring. Most of us would be distressed if we were in that situation, and who better to help than Jesus! But Jesus responded by saying He wasn’t a judge, and that our life is not measured by what we have, or own.
Is that my perspective? Do I tend to elevate those who have obviously done well? Do I tend to think “things” will satisfy? Dr. Richard Swenson, who wrote the book Margin, as well as other books on contentment, makes some good points on this when discussing contentment and relationships:
- We relate better to God when we are satisfied with what He gives.
- We relate better to self when contented with our circumstances.
- We relate better to others when the relationship is stabilized by contentment.
- God comes first and possessions come second.
- Possessions are to be used, not loved.
Swenson also gives some practical steps to contentment that I have found helpful:
- Get to work. The conflict between contentment and discontent is a struggle format on our part. You cannot get from New Orleans to Minneapolis on the Mississippi except by paddling.
- Divorce your thinking from society’s relativistic standards. God says, “Be content,” not “Be content if….” Never allow the affairs of others to influence your contentment.
- Turn off the ads. If you wish to preserve your financial margin, cast your lot with contentment.
- Defer to God’s opinion concerning your family relationships. Infidelity, even in thought, is greener grass only because it’s been spray painted by the Deceiver himself. Contentment keeps our eyes on the right side of the fence.
- Set new standards for contentment using the truth of Scripture. God has long desired to teach us these principles, but it has not been an easy task for Him.
- Develop “counter-habits,” as John Charles Cooper calls them. Instead of getting, try giving. Instead of replacing, try preserving. Instead of feeling covetous, try feeling grateful. Instead of feeling inferior before men, try feeling accepted before God. Instead of being ruled by your feelings, try enjoying the freedom of contentment.
- Subtract from your needs. Make a list of all the things you need and then start crossing things off. It might at first be painful, but after a while it becomes fun.
“There are two ways to get enough,” G.K. Chesterton has pointed out. “One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.” - Accept from God’s hand that which He gives—not resignation, not complacency, but contentment. All that is needful He will supply. Even pain and suffering that seemingly cannot be corrected, He can redeem.
- If you still do not feel the stirrings of contentment within, argue with yourself and tell yourself the truth. We discover contentment, according to Packer, “by learning to talk to ourselves in a good Christian way. You listen to God in Scripture and then tell yourself what He said. If your emotions disagree, you argue with your emotions. And if you find unbelief in your heart, you argue with that unbelief and drive it out by appeal to God’s truth.” (Lonnie Miller once said, “Thoughts are like sheep; they need a shepherd.”)
3) How can we be undistracted from the work of the Kingdom?
An important part of Anabaptist theology is our belief in two kingdoms. What if our material wealth is more of a test than a blessing? What if God is interested in seeing how we handle it, and Satan knows that it can also distract us from the eternal work we are called to do? The more we own, the more time it takes to maintain. So, instead of having the neighbors over, I am busy fixing up my boat. Or, I can’t go to Bible School because of my truck payments.
What does “seeking first the Kingdom of God” mean? We have heard this phrase all our lives, and yet still struggle with how to actually do it. Here are a couple of ideas:
- It means we recognize there are two kingdoms. You may quickly say, “Of course,” but I find it easy for them to run together in my mind. But there are only two, and not a third “neutral” kingdom. One kingdom has our Saviour as the King, and the other is ruled by Satan.
- It also means that the heavenly kingdom is the most important to me. Yes, we live in the earthly kingdom, but we dream about the heavenly. We anticipate being with Jesus! We long to see Him face to face. We dream of living without sin, or loneliness, or misunderstandings.
- It also means we are aware of the conflict between the two kingdoms. And we know Satan wants us to focus on the things we can see, and our self agrees. Our self believes it does make us more significant if we have better and bigger things. So, we see the conflict. We see the truth in what Jesus said that unless we deny ourselves, we cannot (won’t be able to) be His disciples.
- So, seeking the Kingdom first means that we take the resources of the earthly kingdom and invest them in the Kingdom of God. We take our time, talents, and gold, and use them to promote the kingdom of love. The apostle Paul said that if the resurrection were not true, we would be “of all men most pitiable.” Really? Doesn’t our lifestyle seem good regardless? Paul’s statement could only be true if we invest in the work of the Kingdom to such an extent that were it not real, it would be a great loss.
So, one of the reasons we choose to live more simply than we would have to is because we don’t want to be distracted from our primary purpose.
4) Lastly, how can we grow in our admiration and love of Jesus, our Saviour?
This is the best motivation for living simply. Think of our lives as a wheel with spokes. The spokes are significance, pleasure, and safety. The hub of the wheel is God, and the outer rim is the world. Which direction am I headed? Just as on a merry-go-round, the center moves slower than the outside, so it is with our lives. If I am looking to God for my significance, my pleasure, and my safety, my life will slow down and be filled with meaning and purpose. On the other hand, if I look to the world for these things, it will never satisfy, and I will be rushing through my life, trying to find significance, pleasure, and safety, and come to the end with little time spent in my relationship with Christ and in impacting souls for the Kingdom.
Do we love Christ? Are we grateful for His love for us, and confident that He will take care of us? Can we live carefree lives, focusing on people, rather than accumulating more things. Am I finding my identity in Him, so I don’t have to be afraid of what others think of me? Am I realizing that things don’t satisfy, and that they can actually keep us from investing in the Kingdom?
True pleasure is not found in the accumulation of wealth or experiences. True pleasure is found only in Christ! As His disciple, fellow-heir, and future bride, we have it all.