Once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you are in a legal position of being one with God. Yet, in our experience we may live a lifestyle that is distant from God. Once God has removed the barrier of sin that separates us from God, it is up to us to draw near to Him in our personal experience. Are you walking close to God? There are four disciplines that will help you walk closer to God: simplicity, silence, solitude, and surrender. In part one of this article, we will discuss the first of the four disciplines, simplicity.
The discipline of simplicity. 2 Corinthians 11:3, I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. The enemy will get us involved in so many good things that we have no time for God’s things.
Our lives get complicated through competition, accumulation of things, discontent, and moving away from the simplicity of our core values. Ecclesiastes 7:29 TEV, God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated. Jesus told a parable about a seed that fell among the thorns and became crowded and died. Let’s get the weeds out of our crowded lives so that we can grow and mature in the things of God.
When we refuse to simplify, we are unable to rest within and enter the deep silent recesses of our hearts where God’s best messages are communicated. Our hearts grow distant and cold and we find ourselves in a spiritual condition where we are easily seduced.
Simplification brings clarity of focus. When the distractions are gone, you can think more clearly and creatively. Many people walk around in a mental and spiritual fog, not knowing what they’ll crash into next. They live from crisis to crisis when God wants us to live from glory to glory.
Finally, the shift to simplicity does not happen automatically once you realize your need of it. We mistakenly think we possess a truth just because we gain an awareness of the concept. Simplicity is a discipline, an action that must be walked out in our daily life. There is a reason Jesus called his disciples to forsake all and follow Him.
This blog series was inspired by the writings of Chuck Swindoll.
Encouragement 