The Discipline of Simplicity

“I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” Phil. 4:11
“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business” I Thess. 4:11

What is simplicity?

•Intentionally cultivating the art of letting go.
•Intentionally freeing yourself from material things
•The state, quality, or an instance of being simple.
•Freedom from complexity, intricacy, or division into parts: an organism of great simplicity.
•Absence of luxury, pretentiousness, ornament, etc.; plainness: a life of simplicity.
•Freedom from deceit or guile; sincerity; artlessness; naturalness: a simplicity of manner.

Opposite of Simplicity:

•Duplicity:to be in a double state, or speaking or acting in two different ways concerning the same matter with intent to deceive
•We deceive ourselves if we believe we can possess the inward reality without its having a profound effect on how we live.
•To attempt to arrange an outward life-style of simplicity without the inward reality leads to deadly legalism.

What does it mean to live in simplicity?
Simplicity begins in inward focus and unity. Experiencing the inward reality liberates us outwardly. Speech becomes truthful and honest. The lust for status and position is gone because we no longer need status and position. We cease from showy extravagance not on the grounds of being unable to afford it, but on the grounds of principle. Our goods become available to others.

Why incorporate simplicity as a discipline in your life?

•Simplicity helps begin loosening our attachment to this world, fostering a feeling of generosity.
•Simplicity involves cultivating a different kind of lifestyle – characterized by more time, more energy, more generosity (because you’re not “spent”) – that is honoring to God.
•Simplicity is about taking on fewer obligations, so that you’re not living life right up to the edge, leaving
•room for the Holy Spirit to work.
•Simplicity is the only thing that sufficiently reorients our lives so that possessions can be genuinely enjoyed without destroying us.
•Simplicity sets us free to receive the provision of God as a gift that is not ours to keep and can be freely shared with others.

What causes us to not live in simplicity?

•Because we lack a divine Center our need for security has lead us into an insane attachment to things
•We crave things we neither need nor enjoy
•We buy things we do not want, to impress people we do not like.
•We are made to feel ashamed to wear cloths or drive cars until they are worn out.
•Greed, selfishness, idoltry


How to incorporate simplicity:

•Taking on fewer obligations, so that you’re not living life right up to the edge, so that you’re not always racing to the next thing or barely getting by, having your possessions or schedule rule you.
•Practice the art of saying “no” – to what you buy, to the opportunities, to people.
•Choose not to participate in the latest trend or not to buy things that you don’t really need. There is less that you have to worry about or maintain.
•Choose not to say “yes” to opportunities or invitations just because people ask or just because they fit into your schedule. Not all opportunities are helpful or necessary.

SHARING:
1. What are you thoughts about silence & solitude or simplicity?
2. What advantages could you see these disciplines having in your life?
3. Was there any information presented above that caught your attention?

Resources:
Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster
Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton
Professor Steve Korch, Western Seminary, SFS 502 – Practicing Prayer and Other Spiritual Disciplines