Once again, LA fitness came to my rescue for today’s blog.  As I was on the recumbent bike. there were two TVs on in front of me. On one channel was a fashion show and on the other, a well-known food channel. 

 It quickly occurred to me that both of these are multi-million dollar businesses in the US of A. My first thought was how strange this would seem to a lot of people in the world (who have few clothes and who daily hunt for food to stay alive) to even see shows devoted to very expensive clothes worn by very beautiful people as well as a whole TV channel dedicated to food preparation.

I was reminded of the words of both Jesus and Paul.  In Matthew 6:31-34, Jesus warns us not to be anxious, or put too much emphasis, on food and clothes. In I Timothy 6:8, Paul says, “But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

A verse I have been thinking about for quite a while also came to mind as I watched a parade of different kinds of clothes and different kinds of food; 2 Corinthians 1:12, “For our boast is this: the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God and, supremely so, toward you.”

Ah, yes, the word simplicity.  Now, I admittedly don’t have anything against food or clothes. It is more a question in my mind of how much and how expensive. When we hear about the amount of money that some spend on both of these items, it’s mind-boggling.  On a segment of “60 Minutes”, the lady who runs a leading magazine mentioned that her yearly clothing allowance was $200.000. I have read of some much higher than that.

So here is where my thoughts are taking me. What should simplicity look like for me in the day and age in which I live? How much is too much and how can I, how should I move from complex to simple in my life-style?  At this stage I have more questions than answers, but am intrigued by the words of Jesus and Paul. I am on a search for biblical simplicity. Do you have any thoughts on this?  I would love to hear them.