Simplicity: The Measured In-Between

We tend to like binaries in our spiritual lives - black or white, all or nothing, yes or no. But growing up in the Christian spiritual life calls us to live in the tension of the measured in-betweens. Neither all black or all white. Not all or nothing at all. Neither completely yes or completely no.

But growing up is hard.

We feel safer when the answer is simple and we can measure our life by a rule. But the simple answer is often too simple for how we were made. It doesn’t fully capture what it is to be made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27); to be the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). It doesn’t capture what books like Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes call us to explore — the uncharted corners of life that call for wisdom. That’s what growing up in the Christian life calls us to: those hard to find in-betweens.

Take simplicity, for example. It’s a historic spiritual discipline of the church that calls us to live in the measured in-betweens of life.

Simplicity calls us to say, "I can be content with what I have” (Php. 4:12-13). But our hearts have a hard time dealing with what we have right now. We’re more more comfortable aiming for the overly simplified binaries of that discipline: austerity or gluttony. Both of which we like much better.

Austerity says, “I cannot be content with what I have — it’s much too much.” But austerity is an over simplification. It’s something we use when we don’t want complexity — when we don’t want to live in that in-between that calls for wisdom. It feels humble and pious, but it tends (in the name of virtue) to cut off joy, celebration and gratitude, because those things must mean I’m enjoying this too much. “I’ve gone too far. I’ve made an idol.” But austerity is a rule that is too simple for the dynamics of being humans made in the image of God, called to join in to His spiritual life (which does include joy, celebration and gratitude — the Psalms are full of them).

Surprisingly though, austerity is not the complete opposite of simplicity. Austerity is only one dark side of simplicity. The true opposite of austerity is actually gluttony. Simplicity is that hard to reach middle between them.

Gluttony (the other end of the spectrum) says, “I cannot be content with what I have — it’s much too little.” Like austerity, gluttony is an over simplification. It’s something we use when we want to feel but not think. In the name of participating in joy, celebration and gratitude, gluttony cuts off the virtues of humility, generosity and self-control. Those get in the way of my enjoyment. “They keep me from going far enough.” Gluttony is also a rule that is too simple for the Christian spiritual life (which does invite us into the richness of humility, generosity and self-control).

At their root, Austerity and Gluttony actually say the same thing — “I cannot be content with what I have.” They just say it in different ways. They are both an over simplification of the spiritual life God invites us into. They are both an effort to stay out of that hard to balance middle ground of contentment.

But we are called to something more than coloring everything a single color. We are called to contentment. Not to being mastered by our passions (gluttony) or to running away from good gifts (austerity). This is why (among many other reasons) growing up in the Christian life is hard, because it’s not simple. It takes work. It takes nuance. It takes a wise, on-going pursuit of life’s elusive in-betweens.

Now, it seems worth mentioning at this point that neither austerity nor gluttony or even simplicity will save you. Jesus saves you. The call of simplicity is to simply call Him enough; to be content with Him.

You don’t need the more of austere self-sacrifice (cutting off joy, celebration and gratitude) to be holy. You don’t need the more of unlimited consumption (cutting off humility, generosity and self-control) to be happy. You just need Jesus. And from Him stems a life of simplicity, with all its joy and humility, celebration and generosity, gratitude and self-control. When we have Him, we have all these things, because he is these things — he is the maturity we seek, the wisdom we need and the life we crave.

To have Jesus and call him enough is to live the life of simplicity. It will always be hard, this side of heaven. But the solution is not to reduce the difficulty, to lower the bar and settle for one binary (austerity) or another (gluttony). The solution is to rely on the Holy Spirit to find the balance we could never find on our own.

The simplicity of the Christian life is not a balance we find on our own, but a balance that is given to us by God himself. Through that elevating gift (which lifts us up to what we can’t reach on our own) we are enabled to grow into the spiritual life he invites us to have. Through that gift we are enabled to be joyful and humble, celebratory and generous, grateful and self-controlled. The solution is not to lower the bar, but to receive the power to meet it and the gifts that come with that meeting.

The binaries are not what save us. They feel safe because we’re used to not being able to meet the bar. So, settling for a lower bar feels achievable. But the difficult in-betweens, the simplicity and contentment of the Christian spiritual life, are what grow us up into that fullness of what we were made to be.