Sin and Simplicity

Complex.  Complicated.  Confusing.  Dynamic.  These are words I have heard used to describe our rapidly changing times.  Can life be simple anymore?  What relevancy can simplicity be to our multi-tasking selves?

Prayer
Lord Jesus, we are often a fractured people.  We feel torn apart by competing needs, split into our many roles and goals in life.  Give our hearts and minds focus, our souls integrity, and our lives the simplicity of your Kingdom so that we may be free to deeply live. Amen.

Isaiah 40

In today's reading, the people of God are in exile in Babylonia.  They were taken from their homeland, split up into groups and scattered among the lands and cultures of Babylonia.  Isaiah tells the people that God is going to comfort them and renew their strength.  God who is more powerful than all the armies of all the nations will restore his people.  He tells them they will be moving from captivity to freedom, from being shattered and scattered as a people to being reunified and freed to follow God.

As I read verse two "her sin has been paid for," I was struck by the serious costs of sin!  The theology of Isaiah and other prophets sees the conquering of their nation as a result of their unfaithfulness to God!  The cost of their sin is the loss of a homeland, loss of life, the dispersion of the people, and the captivity of their hearts, minds, and souls.

Then I started thinking, "what are the costs of our sins today?"  "What are we captive to as a result of our sins?"  I know that in our heads many of us realize the Sunday School answers to this.  Our sin separates us from God and each other.  It causes problems in our relationships, and brings death and disorder into the creation and into our lives.  But if many of us are pressed to identify our sins and their consequences, we might struggle a little more with our answers. 

Many sins seem innocuous, part of "normal" life in 21st Century American culture. They often escape our attention.

We are part of a system, a way of life that encourages overconsumption, greed, fear, protectionism, and selfishness. Even though the economic struggles of recent years have opened our eyes to see that we don't need as much as we think, we live behind gates, eat more than we should then exercise to "work it off."  We work too much and are stressed about all of the things we "must" do. American life is often a study in the costs of excess! Our expectations are so large about the houses we should live in, the cars we should drive, the "perfect" schools or sports teams our kids should be on, the "perfect" figures we should have, the hobbies and vacations we deserve, and the amount of activity we can stuff into 24 hours that we are crushed underneath their weight as we go into too much debt, sleep deprivation, impatience, and stress!

Though recent economic struggles have been devastating to many families, particularly the poor, for others they have been a wake up call to consider simplifying their lives.  Indeed, practices of simplicity and fasting are in order to help us become more aware of the costs of the sins of excessive expectations.  I find them hard to practice, but I love some of Richard Foster's practices of simplicity from the book Celebration of Discipline. "Buy things for their usefulness. Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you. Develop a habit of giving things away. Refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry. Timesaving devices almost never save time. Learn to enjoy things without owning them. Develop a deeper appreciation for the creation. Look with healthy skepticism at all "buy now and pay later" schemes. Obey Jesus' instructions about plain honest speech. Reject anything that breeds oppression in others. Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the Kingdom of God."

Thank God for the promise of restoration for his people!  We are called to turn from our ways of life that lead us into captivity to things and people and our own expectations, find forgiveness in our gracious Lord, and enter a new life of freedom through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Thanks be to God!

Life Questions

1.  What is holding me captive that I need the cross of Jesus Christ to free me from?
2.  How can I practice greater simple focus on "seeking first the Kingdom of God" by the grace and power of Jesus?

Prayer

Loving Father, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever, amen!

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