DAILY DEVOTIONAL – October 15, 2019
“The Beauty of Simplicity”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we praise You and thank You for Your faithfulness to God; for the life of simple yet perfect faith You lived in our place, even as You died on the cross in our place. Help us Lord to follow You as Your disciples and lead God pleasing and simple lives of faithfulness to You and love toward one another. Amen.
Scripture – 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
Devotion – “The Beauty of Simplicity”
The other day I was scrolling through the recent videos that people had shared on Facebook. As I perused through the cue, I watched two videos back to back that came from two people who couldn’t be more different and who had very different messages, but were both dealing with the same topic.
The first video that popped up was a clip of TV personality and comedian Steve Harvey. As you may or may not know, Steve Harvey is the host of the long standing popular game show “Family Fued.” Apparently, at some point during the taping of the show with a live audience, Steve gives motivational speeches and talks directly to the audience.
Just out of curiosity I clicked the video to watch it. In the video Steve Harvey opened with these words, “Every successful person has jumped. If you want to be successful, eventually you are going to have to jump. If you wake up feeling like there is more to life, if you want to get to that life, you’re going to have to jump.” Up to this point, I really had no thoughts one way or the other about what Steve was saying, but then, he said, “God created each of us with a gift. God never created a soul without endowing them with a gift.” Obviously Steve now had my attention talking theology.
Here is what he said next, “When you’re standing on the cliff of life and you see people soaring by, going to exotic places and you hear about them doing wonderful things, when you see that neighbor of yours that gets a new car every year…they have identified their gift, they jumped off the edge and they are living in their gift. You’ve got to jump off the cliff and open up the parachute of your gift. Otherwise, your’re just gonna end up going to work each day working a regular job.”
I had more than just a couple issues with what Mr. Harvey said, especially when speaking about the purpose of the gifts God has given us. But, before I say anything further about that, I would like to tell you about the next video that popped up and started playing.
It was the story of a 99-year-old man named Luther Younger who walks six miles every day through Rochester New York to get to the hospital to visit his wife. Heat, rain or snow, Luther refuses to waste even a moment each morning before heading out to make his trek to the hospital to be with his wife of 55 years, Waverlee, who Luther calls his “cup of tea”. Waverlee was diagnosed with a brain tumor and has been hospital bound most of the past 9 years. Luther could easily get a ride from his daughter or take the bus to the hospital instead of walking, but when CBS news followed Luther in his daily routine, Luther said, “They take too long. I can’t wait that long to see my wife, she’s my best friend.”
On his way each day to the hospital, you can watch cars pull over to say hello and greet Luther. Seemingly every 10 steps someone else walking along the street shouts out, “Hey Luther! Good to see you.” Without a doubt, Luther’s faithfulness to his wife has become a heart-warming motivation to the residents of Rochester and he has become a local hero.
As I said, these videos couldn’t have come from two more different people in two very different places in life. Not only in age but in status and wealth and perspective.
On the one hand you have Steve Harvey who wants you to believe that God has given you the gifts and talents and abilities you have so that you can work your way to exotic vacations and be able to have a new car whenever your neighbor gets a new car. According to Mr. Harvey, the motivation for exercising your gifts should come from seeing the material and worldly success of other people, and if you don’t jump off the edge like they have done, then you’ll just be stuck in a “regular ol’ job.”
As those words were coming out of Steve Harvey’s mouth, my mind jumped to the words in Scripture from our passage today in 1 Thessalonians 4, and particularly verses 11-12, “…aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.”
I have nothing personally against Steve Harvey, but I do take issue with what he said. Not just Steve but most all of Hollywood and our American culture in general says that if you want the good life, if you want to really soar into success, then you need to be concerned with your neighbor’s car collection. Meanwhile, God says in our text for today “live quietly and mind your own affairs.” Success and happiness to the world is always seeking the approval of the masses and winning the popularity contest. Meanwhile, God’s Word tells us, “be dependent on no one.” The television would have you believe that your happiness is wrapped up in how others define success – like taking exotic trips. Meanwhile, God’s Word tells us not to strive to walk “successfully” towards others, but “properly before outsiders.” And what does it mean to walk properly? Well Scripture tells us that in verse 9 of our text when it says, “you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.”
How does a new car every year love anyone else but yourself? How does an exotic trip bless anyone else except yourself? I once heard an Indian wise man say, “There are very poor people in the world, desperately poor people, people who are the most poor in the world because all they have is money and things.”
Instead of listening to what Steve Harvey said, I think we are better off learning from what Luther Younger does each day. Luther leads a very simple life; a simple life focused on being faithful to his wife. In a world where marriage is being degraded, after 55 years of marriage Luther’s love for Waverlee hasn’t waned in the least. Luther isn’t concerned about what car his neighbor drives; he doesn’t even want to use a car to get the hospital because it would take longer than walking. It’s obvious that Luther is the most concerned about his bride and not the opinions or success of others, and yet, everyone else views Luther as a hero and are comforted and inspired by his dedication to his own affairs. If I had to choose between the wealth and success and status of Steve Harvey and the quiet, simple and “work with your hands” life of Luther, I’d pick Luther every time.
Friends, our Lord Jesus lead the life we should aspire to live. He didn’t have a single possession except the tunic that he wore. Though Christ had thousands of people clamoring just to be near Him, He did not entrust Himself to men but lived solely in unwavering dedication to God His Father. Steve Harvey, Luther Younger, you and I all fall far short of the faithful life God created us for in relationship with Him. Our sin causes us to often chase after falls idols and empty possessions, but because Christ was faithful until the very end as He hung on that cross to pay for the sins of the world, by God’s grace through faith in Christ we have already received the good life – eternal life in the presence of God in the blood of Christ.
We have been given the riches and assurance of heaven itself, and as such we are now free to live for God and to love and worship him by living our life in love toward one another. As Luther proves, how we live as a husband or wife, how we live as a son or daughter, how we live as a hard-working employee, how we live as good citizens, and how we live our lives in the simplest things most often times has the biggest impact on others. As Jesus said in His parable of the talents in Matthew 25, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master…To everyone who has, more will be given to him, but rom the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
Enjoy a simple life of faithfulness to God and love toward one another my friends. It’s the most significant and successful life you can live. And remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
