The Simplification of Life…

All along I have been discussing the simplification of life.  I’ve been talking about getting rid of our stuff, and clearing out room for the family, etc.  This morning I was reading Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch, and he was talking about the shema, which the Israelites adhered to:  “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One.  Love the Lord Your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  Deuteronomy 6:4-5

And then it hit me.  When we come under the lordship of Jesus Christ, we experience true simplicity.  The Israelites, as Hirsch explained, were living in a culture that was deeply spiritual – under the influence of many different gods.  Offering sacrifices to different gods and tree nymphs was normal.  And it was tyranny.  The call of the One True God, Yahweh was the call to come out from the tyranny of multiple gods and to come under the lordship of the One True God.

This is freedom and simplification of life at it’s best.  We walk out from under the tyranny of pleasing all the people around us, from the haunting guilts of past wrongs, from the expectations of others, from the demands of this culture, and we simply live for the One True God.  It’s not just about cleaning the house.  Praise the Lord!