Simplifying doesn’t have to be Complicated

”Do not wor­ry about your life.” Mt 6:25 NKJV

Thore­au said, “Our lives are frit­tered away by detail… sim­pli­fy, sim­pli­fy.” Jesus put it anoth­er way: ‘Do not wor­ry about your life… the birds… nei­ther sow… reap nor gath­er into barns… yet your… Father feeds them” (vv. 25–26 NKJ). Char­lie Shedd pas­tored a large church with many demands. He and his wife cre­at­ed a sim­plic­i­ty list:

  • Make sure you need to sim­pli­fy — Your prob­lem may be iner­tia… because you aren’t doing enough. Self­ish­ness nev­er simplifies—it com­pli­cates.
  • Remem­ber why you’re here. Put God’s will first. You unclut­ter by hav­ing a piv­otal pur­pose on which your life swings.
  • Drop use­less goals. Don’t wear your­self out on mean­ing­less pur­suits. You frus­trate your­self by ded­i­cat­ing your life to the unim­por­tant.
  • You can’t do every­thing. If God intend­ed you to be six peo­ple, he’d have divid­ed you up! Leave some “world build­ing” to oth­ers.
  • Live one day at a time. Plan and hope for the future—but don’t live there. “Each day has enough trou­ble of its own” (v. 34 NlV). Live well today and tomor­row’s strength will come.
  • Wher­ev­er you are—be there. Stop think­ing hap­pi­ness comes at five o’clock, or at the evening’s par­ty, or when you fall asleep. Live in the present.
  • Devel­op a hob­by. A change of activ­i­ty keeps you fresh. Time spent play­ing is time well spent.
  • You can’t slow the world, so slow your­self — Learn to gear down. When you can’t alter the pace, retire to the inner sanc­tu­ary and alter your­self.
  • Adopt the per­fect pat­tern: Christ… whose life cut his­to­ry square­ly in two. Fol­low Him as He lives a mighty life in qui­et con­fi­dence. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Php 2:5).

Source: The Word for You Today – Super­Chan­nel, Orlan­do, FL, USA.