Christian Minimalism

Lately I have been drawn to the concept of minimalism, of stripping my life of everything that is not essential so that I have more time, money, and energy for those things that are most important. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus responded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22: 37-39) As I remove the excess from my life, my goal is to use the new space, physical, temporal, and emotional, to love God and to love others more completely. I must guard against the minimalism becoming the goal in and of itself. Along with streamlining my wardrobe, decluttering my home, and paying off debt, I want to have more opportunity to love God and love people. That is my prayer.