chapter 6: simplicity


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CHAPTER 6: SIMPLICITY PERSONAL STUDY

READING • Read Celebration of Discipline, Chapter 6. • As you read, take notes about what jumps out to you or anything that you have questions about.

THINK ABOUT IT After you have read the chapter, give yourself some time to digest the rich material. Then, revisit the reading, and do your best to answer the following questions: 1. What things most often get in the way of you living out a simplicity of spirit? 2. What kinds of changes would you need to make in order to experience what Foster calls “a more human way to live?” 3. What is your current attitude toward possessions? How will the discipline of simplicity affect this attitude? 4. What kinds of inner attitudes best foster simplicity? What outward expression?

SCRIPTURE READING Note: You might want to read a couple of different translations of this passage. Pick two or three verses that jump out at you and try to commit them to memory.

• Matthew 6:25-33 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. • What things in your life immediately come to mind when you read this passage? Could you benefit from the truth of vs 33? How? • What does Jesus teach in this text about simplicity? Christian simplicity is not just a faddish attempt to respond to the ecological holocaust that threatens to engulf us, nor is it born out of frustration with technocratic obesity. It is a call given to every Christian. The witness to simplicity is profoundly rooted in the biblical tradition, and most perfectly exemplified in the life of Jesus Christ... It is a natural and necessary outflow of the Gospel having taken root in our lives. - Richard Foster

DOING THE WORK The outward expression of an inward reality is not something you can develop quickly. With only one week per Discipline, you may want to focus your practice of simplicity on reflection. The insights may be useful later as you pursue the practice of simplicity in your life. However, here are a few suggestions for practicing simplicity this week. • Meditate daily on Matthew 6:25-33 and write down all thoughts, insights, or questions. • Reflect on what Foster describes as the three inner attitudes of simplicity: 1.) Receiving what we have as a gift from God. 2.) Knowing that it is God’s business, not ours, to protect what we have. 3.) Making our possessions available to others. • Pick the inner attitude that needs the most work in order for you to practice simplicity. • Set aside one hour to look at every major area of responsibility, commitment, or desire in your life. Ask for divine wisdom to weed out areas of your life that do not lead to simplicity. • Give something away.

INTEGRATING THE DISCIPLINES • Pray and meditate this week and ask God to reveal what areas of your life need to be removed to leave more space for all the spiritual disciplines.

DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS Reflect on the many teachings and parables of Jesus that deal with possessions. • Matthew 6:19-21 • Luke 12:13-21 • Luke 16:13-15