“One of the major reasons I am a Christian minimalist is because I believe Jesus is a minimalist, and as a follower of Jesus I look to him to see how to be the best human I can be. As followers of Jesus, our vocation is to have the mind of Christ and strive to live as Jesus did. Let’s look at some of the ways Jesus is a minimalist.
“Jesus lived a simple life, and encouraged his disciples to live simply, too. Over the course of Jesus’s ministry in the Gospels, Jesus traveled. A lot. As he traveled to spread the good news and teach and heal, he lived a pretty simple lifestyle. He ate and stayed at other peoples’ homes, and didn’t take much with him. He encouraged his disciples to do the same when they traveled to do ministry as well. In fact, we find out that Jesus didn’t even have a home. Jesus even distilled all the laws and commandments down into the two most important: love God and love your neighbor as yourself.
“Paul said Jesus ‘emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.’ At its core, minimalism is about emptying ourselves of that which is unimportant, so that we can focus on what’s most important. I’m not encouraging people as followers of Jesus to live like nomads and not take extra clothes with them, but it’s obvious that Jesus simplified his life so he could focus on his ministry. That is the basis of Christian minimalism.”
