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August 25 - September 4, 2025
So many of Jesus’ teachings—especially on money and stuff—were just telling stories about the way the world actually is. It is more blessed to give than to receive.27
You cannot serve both God and money.28 Notice, again, not a command. He didn’t say, “You shouldn’t serve both God and money.” He said, “You can’t.”
It wasn’t until I started to dabble in minimalism (more on that in a bit) and it immediately unleashed a flood of joy and peace in my life that I started to take Jesus’ teachings on money seriously. I can still remember the afternoon where it hit me like a freight train: Jesus was right. Daaaaang… This is actually a better, freer way to live.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.31
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!32
In Jesus’ day, if people said you had a “healthy” eye, it had a double meaning. It meant that (1) you were focused and living with a high degree of intentionality in life, and (2) you were generous to the poor. When you looked at the world, you saw those in need and did your best to help out. An “unhealthy” eye (or as the King James Version has it, an “evil” eye) was the exact opposite. When you looked out on the world, you were distracted by all that glitters and lost your focus on what really matters. In turn, you closed your fist to the poor.
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.33 Again, cannot, not should not.
We worry about what we worship.
Minimalism isn’t about living with nothing; it’s about living with less.
The intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from them.
“Simplicity is an inward reality that can be seen in an outward lifestyle”38 of “choosing to leverage time, money, talents and possessions toward what matters most.”39
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain…. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Think about Jesus. Simplicity is a practice that’s entirely based on his life.
Before you buy something, ask yourself, What is the true cost of this item?
Can you actually afford it? How much time will it cost me to own this? How often will I use it? Will it add value to my life and help me enjoy God and his world even more? Or just distract me from what really matters? Finally, measure hurry. What will this do to the pace of my life? Speed it up or slow it down?
Before you buy, ask yourself, By buying this, am I oppressing the poor or harming the earth?
Never impulse buy.
It’s also amazing that when I exercise self-control and don’t buy an item, often the desire quickly passes.
As a general rule when you see an item you want, just sit on it for a while. The larger the item, the longer you should wait. Think it over. Give your rational mind time to catch up to your irrational flesh. Pray over it. Remember, God isn’t against stuff; he made the world for you to enjoy, and it’s beautiful. But if a purchase doesn’t have his blessing on it, do you really want it in your life? You’ll be shocked at how good it feels to not buy something.
When you do buy, opt for fewer, b...
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“Buy it once” is a great motto to live by. If you can’t afford the high-end version, consider used. Either way, in the end you’ll save money. And if Jesus was right and all our money is actually God’s money and we’re just his money managers, then that’s a good route.
Still, before you go out and buy some high-quality thing, always ask yourself, Do I actually need this?
“How can I live with less?”
When you can, share.
Get into the habit of giving things away.
Want a more blessed life? Give. Generously. Regularly.
When I first got into minimalism, my favorite part was giving away things I didn’t need to people who could actually use them.
Less shopping means more money to share, which in turn means a more blessed life.
Live by a budget.
Learn to enjoy things without owning them.
Cultivate a deep appreciation for creation.
Cultivate a deep appreciation for the simple pleasures.
Recognize advertising for what it is—propaganda. Call out the lie.
Lead a cheerful, happy revolt against the spirit of materialism.
We often hear, “Less, but better.” But what if less is better? This is the message our culture so desperately needs to hear. I say it’s time for a revolution. Who’s with me?
Here’s a good place to start simplifying: your closet. The odds are, even if you’re a dirt-poor college student (the irony of that statement…), you have a closet. And most of us have way too many clothes.
Remember: the question we should be constantly asking as followers of Jesus isn’t actually, What would Jesus do? A more helpful question is, What would Jesus do if he were me? If he had my gender, my career, my income, my relationship status? If he was born the same year as me? Lived in the same city as me? What would that look like? To follow Jesus is to ask that question until our last breath.
Yes, it will cost you to follow Jesus and live his way of simplicity. But it will cost you far more not to. It will cost you money and time and a life of justice and the gift of a clean conscience and time for prayer and an unrushed soul and, above all, the “life that is truly life.”
I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.61
Contentment. The line right before that is as follows: I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.62
The truth is you can be happy right here, right now, “through Christ who strengthens me,” meaning, through investing your resources in ongoing relational connection to Jesus. You can live a rich and satisfying life whether you are rich or poor, single or married, infertile or counting the days until your four kids are out of the house, crushing it at your dream job or at a minimum wage J.O.B. Right now you have everything you need to live a happy, content life; you have access to the Father. To his loving attention. Who would have thought it’s that easy of a yoke?
There’s a new idea in the self-help literature called gamification. Basically, the idea is to turn your personal growth into little games. A recent bestseller had the subtitle The Power of Living Gamefully.2 I like that. JMC has a new goal: live gamefully.
So, gameful person that I now am, I’m always on the hunt for little games to play—fun, creative, flexible “rules” to slow down the overall pace of my one-click-below-hurried life.
The basic idea behind the practice of slowing is this: slow down your body, slow down your life.
And if we can slow down both—the pace at which we think and the pace at which we move our bodies through the world—maybe we can slow down our souls to a pace at which they can “taste and see that the LORD is good.”7 And that life in his world is good too.
Just rock it with Grandma in the Oldsmobile. Or the semi hauling Walmart contraband.
Settle in. Feel the wheel, the road. Watch the scenery pass. Use it as a chance to practice presence—to God, to the world, to your own soul.
If you think about it, driving is a great time to pray. Some of my best prayer times are on morning car rides. As I said, I normally ride my bike to get around town, but every few weeks I take an early morning ride across the city to therapy. Overall, I hate driving (one of the reasons I love living in a city), but I look forwa...
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Turn your smartphone into a dumbphone.
There’s no official checklist, but here’s what we suggest: Take email off your phone. Take all social media off your phone, transfer it to a desktop, and schedule set times to check it each day or, ideally, each week. Disable your web browser. I’m a bit lenient on this one since I hate surfing the web on my phone and use this only when people send me links. But this is typically a key facet of a dumbphone. Delete all notifications, including those for texts. I set my phone so I have to (1) unlock it and (2) click on the text message box to (3) even see if I have any text messages. This was a
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