“A simple life in the Fear of the Lord is better than a rich life with a ton of headaches.” Proverbs 15:16 MSG
Mark Zuckerburg is 35 years old, co-founder and leader of Facebook , he is listed as one of the wealthiest men in the world. If you look him up in Wikipedia, there is an entire section for his legal controversies. His college friend who helped him start Facebook sued him, he was involved in a Pakistan criminal investigation, there are money disputes and land disputes listed. Anyone who thinks they can get money off of him tries. I am grateful to say, at this point in my life I have had to deal with very few legal issues, I’m praying it stays that way. The ones I have had to deal with have given me a headache and caused me to lose sleep. I have 15 more years of life experience than Zuckerburg has and I’m grateful to say, it’s a simple life experience. Without reading the details of Zuckerburg’s cases, it already makes my stomach queasy. He may be one of the richest men in the world, but it comes with a lot of headaches.
Proverbs 30:8-9 gives us valuable insight on how to live a simple life:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
We don’t need much in this world, not nearly all that we have. We need food and water to live on, we need clothes on our backs, although you could argue Adam and Eve didn’t even need clothes until after the fall. If we really want to define a simple life, it comes with those two needs. Having a roof to sleep under, running water, and a car to drive are all luxuries. Have you ever thought about how our blessings can become our burdens? We love having a house, but we have to work to take care of it. We love having clothes, but we have to wash and dry them. We love having cars, but the oil has to be changed and the tires rotated. Jesus never worried about any of that, with the exception of washing His clothes. There is no Scripture that directly talks about Jesus washing His clothes, but I’m assuming He did.
My point is, I’ve often heard people say, “If only I had more money, life would be better.” That is a lie, you don’t need more money to have a better life. You may need to learn how to manage the money you have better, you may need to prioritize your spending, but you already have all you need for a good life. If anything our struggle in America is having too much and saying “Who is the Lord?” (Proverbs 30:9 NIV). Living the simple life helps us remember where our blessings come from and Who we owe thanks too for them. Keeping our eyes on Him is all we truly need to live the simple life.
