{"id":74,"date":"2020-04-20T12:12:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T11:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/?p=74"},"modified":"2025-12-01T12:14:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T12:14:34","slug":"celebration-of-discipline-week-5-simplicity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/celebration-of-discipline-week-5-simplicity","title":{"rendered":"Celebration of Discipline Week 5: Simplicity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If \u2018keeping it simple\u2019 meant what I thought it meant, I was wrong!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Foster outlines in a deeply challenging way what it means to strip things back and keep it simple. For Foster, it\u2019s simplicity in its strongest sense: simplicity as opposed to duplicity, simplicity in pursuing one goal over all else, simplicity as a single focus for every aspect of our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Christians, that goal is to seek God\u2019s kingdom. Jesus says in Matthew 6:33, \u2018seek first<\/em> his kingdom and his righteousness,\u2019 and that comes before everything else Jesus mentions in his most famous sermon. The moment we make our lives focused on anything other than God\u2019s kingdom \u2013 no matter how worthy that thing might be \u2013 we turn it into an idol. But when the kingdom of God is genuinely placed first, ecological concerns, the poor, the equal distribution of wealth and many other things will be given their proper attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are still practicing the discipline of meditation, why not take up a psalm? For me it would be Psalm 139. It reminds us of God\u2019s vastness and vested interest in us, culminating in David\u2019s response at the end. I love the challenge to be searched and sifted and for anything that causes offence to be taken out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discipline of simplicity is an inward reality resulting in an outward lifestyle. What goes on inside our hearts impacts the world around us and who we are in it. Foster writes: \u2018Of all the disciplines, simplicity is the most visible and therefore the most open to corruption.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does this actually look like? Foster lists 10 outward expressions of Christian simplicity in this chapter \u2013 but this week I\u2019m going to focus on the second one: rejecting anything that produces an addiction. For me, that\u2019s my phone. Most days I feel like it controls me, not the other way round! Muscle memory is a dangerous thing. When my phone is next to me it gets picked up more than my children or my Bible...that is wrong! I need to learn to parent my phone and be in the driving seat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it that you could do to simplify your life? Here are three easy steps you could follow in order to make it possible: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1:<\/strong> Find something that needs simplifying. It could be going through your house and decluttering, or limiting your time consuming TV, radio, or gaming. Basically, it\u2019s whatever you feel is getting in the way of making the kingdom of God your first priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2:<\/strong> Take time to reflect and write down how you will embrace simplicity in that area. For me, I\u2019m going to stop using my phone one hour before bed keep it outside the bedroom while I\u2019m sleeping. I\u2019m going to have to use an actual alarm clock \u2013 retro I know!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 3: <\/strong>Ask for someone to keep you accountable. This is hard, I know, but it will help. The things that are particularly attached to us will be harder to shift so we may need some assistance\u2026 My wife is keeping me accountable! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember \u2013 the idea of simplicity is more freedom not less.<\/em> God is calling us to live a simple life as Jesus lived simply. I want to create more space and the mental capacity to allow the Holy Spirit to move in all areas of my life, for God to be present, and for me to listen from the beginning of each day to the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have fun simplifying! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Foster recommends these daily scripture readings as we explore Simplicity this week:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday:<\/strong> Simplicity as singleness of heart \u2013 Matthew 6:19<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday:<\/strong> Simplicity as trust \u2013 Matthew 6:25\u201334<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday:<\/strong> Simplicity as obedience \u2013 Genesis 15<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday:<\/strong> The generosity of simplicity \u2013 Leviticus 25:8\u201312<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday:<\/strong> Simplicity in speech \u2013 Matthew 5:33\u201337, James 5:12<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday:<\/strong> Simplicity and justice \u2013 Amos 5:11\u201315, 24, Luke 4:16\u201321<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday:<\/strong> The freedom from covetousness \u2013 Luke 12:13\u201334<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read about the discipline of Simplicity, from our series unpacking the Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":75,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions\/76"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}