”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.