The Point of Friction

Lately I've become increasingly attracted to the simple life. I generally dislike extravagance (which, on an entirely different note that I may write about at some point, I think limits my creativity and curiosity) to the point where I don't really even joke about it. When talking to a friend about a 1.7 million dollar jetboat made almost entirely of carbon fiber with an 8000 Watt speaker system with, WiFi connectivity, a custom trailer, and twin 1,350 horsepower engines that could go 180 mph on the water, he commented that if he had enough money he would buy it. I'm not quite sure if it was in jest or not, but I reacted as if it wasn't. I could never justify spending so much money on something so frivolous and made purely for entertainment.

I've viewed money differently throughout the years, mainly weighing my expenditures against purchases of something very important or enjoyable in my life at the time. For example, in high school I played an online game called Runescape that cost 5 dollars a month. Whenever I bought something or saw other people purchasing things, I would say something like, "I could have bought 3 months of Runescape membership with that…" Now I think very differently. When someone makes a purchase, a big one at least, I always ask myself "How much food and clothing could the amount of money they just spent on that new kitchen have bought for homeless people in Portland?" or "How many schools or orphanages could have been funded by the money they just spent on that Porsche?" We are stewards of the gifts God has given us, including all the money that we have. I talk more about my idea of stewardship in this post if you're curious.

I've been challenged recently in the topic of giving. A thought that goes through my head often is "a sacrifice isn't a sacrifice unless it's a sacrifice." I've been giving money out of what I earn each month to my local church and have been for some time, but it's never been difficult or painful or sacrificial giving. I always simply give it and don't think about it. I fear it is becoming a source of pride in me. "I'm giving like a good Christian is supposed to give and that's good enough. I'm giving even though other people aren't." I do not want to fall into the trap of complacency and self-righteous pride. Israel does that a lot in the bible and it never goes well for them (just read Numbers). I've been challenged to give more and trust God to work out the rest. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, the simple life. Food. Clothing. Appearance. Health. Housing. Entertainment. Transportation. All of it. I want to do it all simply. Without distraction. My career will not be a simple one. I will be engaging daily with challenging and complex ideas, problems, solutions, and documentation. I want the rest of my life to be simple. I want to live well below my means in an adequate house with functional transportation, healthy wholesome food, simple clothing, edifying entertainment. I want to give of my money and time and talents. There is a lot of need in this world and I want to meet it. I want to protect and provide, both for my own family and for those in this world who are in need. And I think God is going to enable me to do that. And I think I can be more effective in doing that by living a simple life.

There is a fine line between simplicity and something like reclusiveness, and I do not want to cross that line into reclusiveness by any means. I still want to be in community with others and I do not want the simplicity of my life to be a hindrance to myself, my family, my friends, or my church. We are called to be in the world but not of the world. We can't do that if we aren't actively engaged in the world. We can't be actively engaged in the world if we aren't in community with others. I'll probably talk about that more in another post some other time.

Basically, I see something profoundly beautiful about simplicity. I want to capture it.