Simple Living in Practice, Lesson #16

Today, we would like to sum up the benefits of simple living, after having addressed so many different issues over the recent weeks. What is the fruit of a simple life that relies on God's Word alone as the standard ?

First of all, simple living under God's authority frees you from the cares and concerns of the world, thereby allowing you to focus on the more important aspects of life. Less clutter in your life, starting with the TV, fashion, gossip, and other mindless spare time entertainment, facilitates a richness of the inner life and brings you back to the roots of our existence, to man as a created being, created to serve and glorify and worship the Creator, and not the creature.

Simple, natural living promotes conversion of the mint and heart, and allows God's Spirit to permeate every aspect of life. Not that it is us that allow God to do anything, mind you. No life style can bring you closer to God if He has reserved you for damnation, and there is no way that we can save ourselves. But if God has opened your mind and heart towards him, if you are allowed to hear what He says, a simple life is going to be the only way to live everything God asks of you, and that is, to live and work as unto the Lord, and to be fruitful, and multiply, and subdue the earth, that is, to be good stewards of creation and build His Kingdom within the family. This includes living with the natural cycles as God created them, and avoid exploitation of any form.

Furthermore, living simply according to God's plan creates relationships of a different quality. Living within the multi-generational family, where everyone is of value to the whole and where everyone has his and her place and role, where everyone supports the other one on his and her way with God, is a very different form of family life than the typical nucleus family life most people are accustomed to nowadays, where the family members are more of a group of individuals who each do as they please most of the time than a family in the biblical sense. Simple Living according to God's design creates communion with each other, and it furthers communion with God, since one of its main features is studying the word of God and putting it into every day life practice.

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Simple Living in Practise, Lesson #13

This past week, we have been dealing with a number of different and seemingly unrelated topics, with keeping stock and the issue of household gizmos and gadgets, with the influence of TV yet again and yesterday with a godly farming time frame. So let me take the opportunity today, as the Sabbath approaches, to show how all these, and a million other individual issues, are related.

In today's world, people tend to separate the different parts of their life from each other. There is the family, there is work or college, there is church life, there are hobbies, there are friends, there is social involvement, there is "private time", there is empty time. The latter, of course, is avoided as best as possible, as well as anything that might produce boredom, so constant entertainment and activity are essential, and within a family, often enough each member runs off to a different activity all day long so that members of a family hardly ever see each other anymore, other than, most probably, when they "line up" for the bathroom in the morning. Some families at least are keeping up regular meal times together, but for others, not even that is manageable anymore.

Well, we at Joshuah's House think that this compartmentalization of life is one of the reasons why society is "going to hell in a hand basket" - families are nothing but groups of individuals anymore who live under one roof, the house is divided, and nobody even thinks that's a problem.

But God has different plans for us, He has set up rules and roles and a vision, without which the people will perish, and this vision is closely bound to God's Law-Word: "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he" (Pro 29:18). All of life, every aspect of it, is to be brought under God's authority, the manual for life is His Word as we find it in Scripture (and Scripture alone), and the place where we can live best according to God's plan is nowhere else but in the multi-generational family.

So all the different aspect we have been dealing with, not only those of last week, but everything that we are addressing, is part of family life, and no matter what is done or decided, there is only one standard Joshuah's House goes by: The Heavenly Unrevisable Code.

So much for this week... Have a restful Sabbath, and stay tuned for more next week.


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Simple Living in Practice, Lesson #12

Today's lesson deals with the biblical foundation for the farming time frame. God did not leave His people without command and advice in every area of life because all areas of life are under His authority, and if we follow Him in trust and obedience, He promises that it will be well with us and our children after us, and that we will live long in the land that He gave us (Deu 4:40, and in many other places).

Exodus 23:10-13 spells out the Sabbath laws concerning the land: Just like the seventh day of the week is holy, so is every seventh year, which means that during the six years, you have to be a good steward to what you sow and reap, so that you can let the land rest for a whole year in the seventh, and then have seed to sow anew and do without its fruit for yet another year since you only sow anew in the beginning of the new year one.

Lev 19:23-24, in addition, establishes the rules for trees that bear fruit for food - for three years their fruit shall be considered uncircumcised, in the fourth year the fruit is holy and the Lord's, and in the fifth year, the fruit can be gathered and eaten. This is something to keep in mind when you plant trees for food.

And what happens to whatever does grow on the fields in the seventh year ? The fruit that is does yield without being ploughed and used you can gather as you need them, but they are also for the poor people of the land, and the wild animals. The biblical idea of charity, quite in contrast to what is practiced in churchianity these days, is very straight forward and directed to very specific people: widows and orphans, who are the poor and unprotected people of the land, and everybody who passes by. And the how of charity is as simple, and in terms of food, the biblical farming rules reflect this, not only for the Sabbath year, but for every harvest: Deu 24:20-21 explains that, when you beat your olive tree and gather your vineyard's fruit, you are not supposed to go over them again to glean what is left on the tree and the vine, but you should leave the rest for the strangers, widows and orphans.

As far as thanksgiving is concerned, Exo 23:14-19 tells you that apart from the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is very early in the year, there are basically two occasions on which the fruit of your field are presented to the Lord as thanksgiving - the time when the first fruits are gathered, and at the end of the season, when the crops are gathered in from the fields. So basically, whenever the land gives you from its wealth, you are to remember that it is not you who makes the crops and the fruit grow, no matter how much you work for it, but it is the Lord, and all our life, including our work life, is under His authority.

Remember this when you plant your garden after you moved onto your new patch of land.


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Simple Living in Practice, Lesson #11

TV again - yes, I know that a while ago, I already addressed TV, but experiences with people who claim to be following a simple living guideline and also classify themselves as born again Christians indicate that another word about TV is needed.

The idea presented by these people was that, although generally speaking, TV is "bad", there are some shows that are just great, like documentaries about animals, cooking shows, and the like, and that, the more channels you have to choose from, the easier it is to find the good shows ! Oh well. I find it highly inconsistent, really.

How much money do you pay monthly for 200 TV channels ? And is it really really worth it, if you are only looking for very specific shows ? Are you not deluding yourself into thinking that you are only using your TV for the good things ?

Well, let me say this: Television is a market, an industry, and it is the one medium that brings the evil right into your living room, or your children's bedroom. It comes in all shapes and sizes, as commercials, news, movies, documentaries, and it catches your attention almost against your will. It teaches you and your children more and more subtly than you are aware of, and it steals time you are supposed to devote to much more important matters - your family, your husband, God.

Can you not go to a library and borrow a book about animals, or a cookbook, and if you like a recipe especially, copy it into your own cooking booklet or folder, or, if you found a really really great book, decide to buy it after all ?

Why in the world would you want TV to educate you and your children ? Why in the world would you want to waste your money on a corrupt industry that doesn't do anyone any good other than generate money for those that run it ? Do you not have better things to spend your money and your time on ?

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