Ah-ha!

           

        I am a lover of “simple” living. 

Perhaps it began when I was young, roused from sleep on winter mornings by the creak of the wood burning stove.  My interest in natural, frugal living intensified when Leah was born – B.J. was a full-time college student, I quit working outside the home, and we discovered that Leah was allergic to everything from laundry detergent to peanut butter.  We eat lentils in order to keep the grocery bill down, diaper our babies with cloth diapers, and drink milk raw from the goat that grazes the lawn.  We don’t own a cell phone, nor are we on Facebook.  It is my husband, not my dad, who now starts the woodstove on chilly mornings.  I wash our clothes with soap nuts and follow blogs that promote soaking your grains and using coconut oil for everything from cooking to conditioning your hair. 

But in our endeavors to live a simpler life, I am troubled by my own tendency to elevate methods above principles.  If my goal is to simply live a healthy, frugal life, haven’t I missed the point?

That’s why, as I’m reading Randy Alcorn’s Money, Possessions, and Eternity, this passage jumps out at me.  I read it, and re-read it.  I copy it in my journal as the kids nibble their breakfast:

        During World War II when fuel was precious, billboards routinely asked motorists, “Is this trip necessary?”  Every resource used for individual convenience was one less resource available for the nation’s central concern: winning the war.  Today we’re engaged in a great spiritual battle that requires great resources [“Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  Ephesians 6:11-12]  Spending money [time, talents, etc.] on our own private concerns leaves less for the kingdom’s central concern.  We should ask, “Is this thing necessary? Does it contribute to my purpose in being here on this earth?  Is this item an asset or liability to me as a soldier of Christ?”

        The American church, taking its cue from our culture, has adopted a peacetime mentality.  Consequently we live a peacetime lifestyle.  But Scripture says we’re at war.  We should make sacrifices commensurate to this crisis, that we may win the war.  We might call it a “strategic” lifestyle.  If I’m devoted to “simple living,” I might reject a computer because it’s modern and nonessential.  But if I live a wartime or strategic lifestyle, the computer may serve as a tool for kingdom purpose.  Simple living may be self-centered.  Strategic living is kingdom-centered.

Ah-ha!  I am called not to love the simple life but to live a strategic life!

So we’re re-evaluating our strategy.  Instead of providing our children with an idyllic homestead life, we want to live in such a way that they know that serving the King is our priority.  My devotional life has been lacking lately, so I’m getting up even earlier to ensure that I spend adequate time in God’s Word.  B.J. is eliminating potential projects from his schedule.  We spent all Saturday splitting wood, but the goats are headed to a new home. 

You are involved in a great spiritual battle.  Are you more involved in critiquing the methods of your fellow soldiers than you are in fighting the war?

Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate your strategy.