Two weeks ago, our focus was on simplicity in the Christian life. We began by reading a chapter in Celebration of Discipline by the same name. Then, we started to discuss how we ought to be living with only what we need to live on- what is necessary but not more, with adequate provision but not in abject poverty. But, simply maintaining that channel of dialogue is not quite what God had planned for the week.
Beginning on Tuesday of that week, we began to live out simplicity as a community. Every morning, we got up between 5 and 5:30 AM, grabbed a quick breakfast of a hard-boiled egg and piece of bread, and headed into Matamoros for an extended quiet time. After that, we simply tried to do the things that Jesus did, to live like Jesus. We simply found the things that Jesus did in the gospels and went and did them. Let me give you some context for some of the things we did. Here in the area around Matamoros where we’re living, unemployment is very high as in many parts of the States right now. In an area that for those who aren’t drug dealers poverty is the norm, being out of work implies that you and your family go hungry, often living on as little as a handful of beans a day. So, many of the things we did were aimed at meeting the basic need of nourishment in peoples’ lives- both physical and spiritual. For example, one day, we went to the grocery store and bought food, spent all day preparing it, and then took the food to Matamoros to feed people that evening in a park and at the hospital (families at hospitals in Mexico are not allowed to say inside, so they often camp-out outside of the hospital for as long as their loved ones are in the hospital). I loved the opportunity to simply visit with people as we gave them food and, as best that my Spanish would allow, to get to hear their stories and pray for them. Another day, we asked around a busy part of Matamoros if anyone would allow our team to take them to eat lunch with us. We had two men accept (both of whom are out of work), and again, we had a wonderful time simply sharing a meal with them and talking. At night, we would come back and have teachings on the Church based off of the book Crabgrass and Oak Trees (a really good book, for those who are interested) taught by one of the authors, Jonathon, who, for the past several years has run the AIM base here in Mexico. Finally, throughout the night, we had prayer rotations. Everyone was assigned, in groups, an hour during the night to get up, meet in the office and pray. I had the 4 AM to 5 AM shift, so I was basically getting up at 4 AM every morning. Yet another week with very little sleep!
There are two lessons that most stood out to me from that week. First is the power of denying ourselves and the desires of our flesh. Paul, in Galatians 5:16-17, explains this concept much more eloquently than I might ever hope to do, saying: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other…” There is a power that I cannot describe in denying yourself the basic desires of your body, such as food or sleep, while saying, “Jesus, I love you more than I love [insert name of a desire]”. It allows one to focus more wholly on the Lord and display a willingness to sacrifice anything for the sake of the Kingdom. Second is the responsibility of taking this knowledge and applying it to my life, especially after I return home. Jess, one of my teammates, said that she can just see us all going home and taking someone to lunch or cooking food for and taking it to the homeless in the United States when we return, and I certainly intend to do so. Such gestures are so simple and require so little from us, but they can have a profound impact on an individual. I wonder why we don’t do these things (or similar gestures of love and compassion) more often- it is certainly something that we ought to be doing if we truly desire to be Christ’s disciples.
I suppose I’ll close with this: We spent a week doing only what we see Jesus doing in the gospels, and we did not even begin to scratch the surface of doing all that He did. There are so many more things that He did than what we explored. In addition, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). I would challenge you to try this for a week yourself. In the morning, start reading through one of the gospels and pick something that you see Jesus doing and make it your goal to do the same thing that day. Let the Spirit guide you. If you see him feeding people, do that. If you see him withdrawing to a secluded place to pray, do that. I think you might be amazed at the incredible things you will learn if you simply attempt to follow the example that Jesus has set for us!
