I have been thinking about what Simplicity is and is not. Over the next few posts I am going to draw from Richard Swenson's book "Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives."

Since this is the season of Lent, I am going to begin with Freedom and Legalism. I think Lent is a time to remember the freedom Christ purchased for us on the cross with his very life. We are free and no longer tied to an impossible to achieve list of things we must be or do to be pleasing to God.

Here is what Swenson has to say:
It is Free- One of the key features of simplicity and, at the same time, one of its principle advantages is that it is a life of freedom. It is free from anxiety--about our reputations, our posessions, our tomorrows. It is being controlled by that which is life-giving and refusing to be controlled by what is destructive.

It is not Legalistic-Those who choose to live a simple lifestyle often set a standard of judgment for the lives of others. Such legalism does not liberate; it kills. It destroys the joy of both the accuser and the accused. The message of simple living is better spread by invitation than judgement.

Being controlled by what is life-giving.....better spread by invitation than judgement. Hmm.

Sometimes I get a little skewed on my motives for simplicity. I don't necessarily judge others. I judge myself instead. I feel guilt over my lifestyle or my access to resources. Then I remember that the One who is Life-Giving, my Jesus, is the One who has given these things to me. A lifestyle and resources that I do not deserve. And yet, I am blesssed. So will I choose to thank Him and praise Him for what he has done in my life or will I continue to run laps around the cross to prove I am worthy? Will I be more responsible with the blessings? Will I choose to be life-giving as Christ has given life to me?

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows."
2 Cornithians 1:3-5

At the end of the day, I am reminded that I am "paid for" in Christ's work on the cross. And I keep on keeping on....