Christian Educators' Journal

A simple phrase

by Timothy Stephens

Bigger is…not necessarily better!  Americans have long been known for bigger houses, bigger cars, bigger boats, bigger salaries, and so on.  Personally, I’ll take the simpler, less complex life of friends from college who now live in a small African country serving the people of their town.  They live in a small, modest flat and they have no car.  They take public transportation anywhere they need to go or they walk — something some of us Americans have forgotten how to do!  They are not successful by our standards “back home,” but they have a simple, rewarding life.

Accumulation of wealth in and of itself is not evil, but when the goal becomes to acquire the next biggest item or status symbol, we have lost sight of the real goal in life.  The real goal in life is expressed by Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, o man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”  This simple statement shows us the way to live life.  Instead of focusing all of our attention on the accumulation of money and goods, we should be reaching out beyond our wealth to show justice and mercy to others.

In light of the tragic events in Haiti recently, our North American habit of accumulation seems very trite.  Most Haitians had very little to begin with, but now they have nothing.  Are we showing justice and mercy to them, or are we still caught up in the rat race of “bigger is better?”

your comments

karissa
Jan 28 2010
10:13 AM

I just wonder how the simple life fits into saving for retirement. It’s a reality that plenty of people will have to stop working and live on savings and/or want to stop working for pay in their 60s and do mission work. How does ‘the simple life’ precede that? And I really mean the simple African life that you’re referring to in this essay-ette. I realize I can live a simple life on my income in the US and easily save for retirement. But how does one who is making just enough to live a simple life, save?