I have a confession to make. I absolutely love to watch the profiles of families and couples that have ditched their giant McMansion and traded it in for the minimalist lifestyle. Specifically, Bryce Langston and his YouTube show Living Big in a Tiny House. The decision to live intentionally and conservatively is very appealing to me. The detailed and specific dimensions bring me peace. The idea of everything having a purpose and a place is so comforting. Nothing is wasted, nothing is superfluous, nothing is lacking.
Henry David Thoreau would call it living deliberately. He explains that he underwent his own minimalist journey at Walden Pond because he “wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life.” I get it. We only get one life and there is a burning desire not to waste it. At the end of the day, when your head hits the pillow, wouldn’t it feel wonderful to sleep easily knowing that you left it all on the table and maximized the potential of the day?
What’s the Meaning of Life?
Before you can get there, you have to join the millions before you that have asked, “What is the meaning of life?” Without answering that question, it is impossible to know what an unwasted day would be. Many who find themselves wrapped up in the minimalist movement are in agreement that purpose is not found in stuff. I would certainly agree with that, but I don’t think there is a consensus about what the replacement should be. Too many would trade their possessions for experiences or freedom. Jesus would see all of those things as secondary.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism gets to the essence of the purpose of life for the believer in its first question. “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” John Piper would join those two and say, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” So what does it look like for a believer to Live Big for Jesus?
"Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgement seat;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last."
- C.T. Studd
Minimalist Jesus
I’ve been thinking for a little while about whether Jesus would have been a minimalist. If you think about his life, he was a guy who was trained to work with his hands. Once he left his mother and father’s house he didn’t build himself a home. Instead, he poured himself into his relationship with his Father, his mission, and his followers. He never had a blog. He didn’t write a book. He didn’t travel more than 100 miles from his home. He didn’t run for public office. He didn’t do many of the things that we equate with greatness or thrill seeking. If we were to look at Jesus today, he would most likely be someone that would make us uncomfortable.
Jesus lived a very minimalistic life, but I don’t think for a moment that he focused upon the number of possessions that he owned, his off-the-grid solar array, the view out the front door of his house, or the skydiving trip that he was planning. He was focused singularly on doing the work of his Father, seeking and saving the lost. Since we are being conformed to the image of Jesus, we need to look to him as our exemplary older brother and figure out how to live in such a way that God is glorified in our life.
We can look to Jesus’ own words in the parable of the sower to figure out what Jesus would see as a fruitful or fulfilling life. He shared that when a sower went out and broadcast seeds, some fell on the path, some on the rocky ground, some among thorns, and some on fertile ground. In reference to the seeds that fell among the thorns he says in Luke 8:14, “they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.” Notice the three things that he says can choke out their fruit.
Cares
Holding onto anxiety and worry comes from a lack of humility. Don’t believe me, 1 Peter 5:6-7 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” What are you worried about? Finances, family, the future? Safety, sickness, and security? I’m not saying that any of those things aren’t important. The lack of humility comes in when you think you can handle those things better than the all-powerful God of the universe can.
Notice where that verse tells you to cast those cares. Don’t cast them aside. You don’t thrown them away. He tells us to cast them onto the lord. The idea is like that of putting a heavy burden on an animal so they can carry it. Not only is Jesus willing to carry those things that you are worried about but he has way more power to affect them than you do. When we worry and hold onto those cares we reveal pride.
So how do we get those anxieties from our back onto Jesus’ back? Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” When we pray, we are admitting our weakness to God and acknowledging his supremacy. Cares are cured by humility. Jesus would say that a fulfilled life is one that trusts in God and doesn’t think too highly of itself.
Riches
Jesus talked more about money than any other single topic; more than heaven, hell, or sex. He warned people not to put trust in riches but to pay dividends towards eternal life. He spoke of the kingdom of God as an unspeakable treasure worth more than we could ever dream of paying. The Matthew version of the parable of the sower has Jesus saying that the seed was choked out by the deceitfulness of riches. What’s deceitful about riches?
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Luke 12:32-34
Riches promise more than they can deliver. They promise security, happiness, and satisfaction in life, but fail to deliver. Does this mean God is against wealth? Not necessarily, but he did say that it’s hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. He just doesn’t want you to be deceived by it or to trust in it. For it will surely disappoint you.
Jesus says that the fulfilled life is not achieved through physical means. Riches are perishable. If you have it and depend on it, it will be stolen. If you don’t have it and crave it, it will be corrupted. Money can keep us from the kingdom, because it reveals that our hearts are in love with money and far from King Jesus. My question is: What does it mean to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven rather
I think the answer is that you take your money and you show your freedom from it. You can’t serve two masters, so show your allegiance to God, not mammon. Live in such a way that it is obvious that riches are not your God, not your treasure. Instead, display the love of God to people by sharing more and more of what you have. Recognizing that God has given it to you not to bless you but so you can be a blessing to others. In doing that, your joy in God and your treasuring of him increases.
Paul instructed the rich in 1 Timothy 6:18-19 to “do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.” If you want to grab ahold of what is truly
Pleasures
This one is tough because God wants us to be happy! We see the language of pleasure all over the Bible. The Christian life is not a competition over who can be the
Remember, the Catechism question that I mentioned before doesn’t stop with glorifying God. The chief end of man is to glorify God AND to enjoy him forever. This enjoyment is the only true and lasting enjoyment. The pleasures of this life are deceitful just like riches. They are weak.
Our problem is not that we have desires and seek pleasures. The problem is that we settle for such fleeting and deficient pleasures instead of seeking that which will really satisfy.
If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory”
Jesus is warning us to stop messing around with these half-hearted pleasures. They choke out the potential for real and lasting joy. Jeremiah 2:13 says that this idolatry is a great evil. “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
We have an
In the end, if we are looking for a full and satisfying life then we need to heed the words of Jesus in John 9:24, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Do you want to save your life? Then lose it. That’s hard, but when is anything worth doing ever easy?
The poorest saint in heaven doesn’t have a bit of envy for the rich of this world. They do not fawn after the famous, or court the powerful. They have truly learned what it means to “live deep and suck all the marrow out of life.” They have found that which is truly life. His name is Jesus Christ.