Life is simple at the start. Breathe. Eat. Sleep. Cry. Leave the rest to your caregivers. But life doesn’t stay that way for long. It seems that the headlong rush of the twenty-first century especially lends itself to increasing complication. But the apostle Paul obviously saw the problem coming in the first century: “I fear, lest by any means, as the ser- pent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). Paul described his own lifestyle as decisively different from the spirit of his age (and obviously from ours) in these words: “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our [manner of life] in the world” (2 Cor. 1:12).
Sometimes the complications of life are the will of God for us. Obviously the life of a reclusive hermit with no electric power or running water has a simplicity of sorts. No emails asking for spiritual advice. No late- night calls from people needing help. He is never required to expend himself for others. But it is not the life to which the believer has been called. It is certainly not the lifestyle of Paul who reminds us that we were “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Eph. 2:10).
Yet there obviously is a simplifying of our lives that is necessary, a kind of spiritual spring cleaning, where on a regular basis we look at the accumulated stuff we have gathered–responsibilities, activities, ministries, relationships–and ask if these things ought to be hang- ing there, taking up space in the closets of our lives.
The apostle calls it “proving.” He writes: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2). “But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another” (Gal. 6:4). “Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord” (Eph. 5:10). “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thess. 5:21).
Such a process of dragging a thing out of its place in the often crammed storeroom of our hearts, of holding it up to the searching gaze of our Lord, will often show us that while it may be a good thing, it is not God’s good will for us . It may be His will for someone you know, someone you need to encourage, Deborah-like, to take up that task instead of you.
Such a process, although often wrenching to conscientious servants who don’t like to be “quitters,” often can restore a sense of focus and balance and well-being to the life.
The Greek word for simplicity is sometimes translated “singleness,” as in the verse: “Servants, obey in all things…not with eye- service, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God” (Col. 3:22). This is beautifully expressed by linking five “one thing” scriptures. The Lord addressed the rich young ruler this way: “One thing thou lackest…come, take up the cross, and follow Me” (Mk. 10:21). The man born blind had it right when he said: “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see” (Jn. 9:25). And we ought to heed the Master’s assessment: “One thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Lk. 10:42). David understood that when he wrote: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple” (Ps. 27:4). And Paul, giving a snapshot of his whole Christian life, declares: “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14). So are there five things? No, just one. All five verses remind us that an undistracted eye for the Lord is the secret of the life that counts for God.