For the past several years, a “word for the year” is something my church focuses on at the start of the new year. Basically, everyone prays for a word from the Lord and really presses into it for the year. Appropriately, “simplify” is my word for the year.
I’ll be living with the same backpack full of things for eleven months so I might as well start now, right?
I realized how much “stuff” I have in my room, cabinets, email inbox, everywhere. What seems like a million things sitting on my counter top, desk, and dresser. Every flat surface I somehow managed to accumulate and excessive number of vases, pictures, decorations, you name it. I have clothes and shoes I have not worn in years. Drawers full of anything and everything I have not seen since middle school. So, I started cleaning my room, unsubscribing from email accounts, clearing out my closet, and have become more contentious about the things I buy. The most tedious, but incredibly effective filtering I have done is unfollow photographers’, celebrities’, and companies’ social media accounts. It is still very much of a process, but I am already feeling less cluttered.
Along with simplifying my possessions, I decided to simplify the way I’m studying the bible. I began to read Acts all the way through. The simple, immediate obedience that the early church had is a great example to follow. So many of the people saw an opportunity, took it, and gave God glory. (Acts 16) Lydia, this super trendy business woman and “worshipper of God,” came to pray at the river one day. She and Paul ran into each other, and she ended up offering up her home for them to stay. She saw an opportunity, took it, and it gave God glory. Paul has a bit of a Kanye West – let me say something really fast – moment in Acts 22 after being arrested. He makes a bit of a scene in front of a huge crowd, and tells his testimony. He saw an opportunity, took it, and it gave God glory. In Acts 8, Philip tells people in Samaria who Jesus is. Peter and John hear about it, and go to Samaria to pray for these new believers. They put their hands on the believers, prayed, and the people received the Holy Spirit. They saw an opportunity, took it, and it gave God glory.
After trying to put this into practice for a couple of weeks, I have discovered what is simple is not always easy. I was recently challenged to share the gospel with someone outside of formal outreach ministry meetings/church/that kind of thing. That’s an incredibly simple idea, but not super easy. My prayer is that I can see an opportunity, take it, and give God glory.
In Acts 2:42-47, the believers devoted themselves to fellowship, teaching, prayer, and praise. At the end of the chapter it says, “…the Lord added to their numbers daily who were being saved.” (NIV) They ate together, prayed together, praised together, they just did life together; and people got saved. I try to make things a lot more complicated than they should be. I’m learning daily what it looks like to be the Church with less distractions, less check-lists, less pressure of structure, and more raw simplicity. After all, do you think Jesus had an overflowing walk in closet or a full planner? I’m thinking probably not.
