As I write this note I am thinking about Sunday and the opportunity I have to speak after missing a couple of Sundays. Acts 15 is a great passage that continues to have a significant impact on our lives today. I will be focusing on the meaning of Acts 15 with a message entitled, “A New Kind of Christian is . . . Uncluttered.”

I read that to be happy, one should be married, a Republican, an evangelical protestant, located in the upper-middle class, live in a warm climate, be Caucasian, and have a security based on one’s financial status. At the same time, Paul said to Timothy in I Timothy 6:6 & 7, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” Would you rather be happy or content? There are so many confusing messages in our world about what we really need to be satisfied in life. I feel pulled in many directions, don’t you?

Jesus said to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things would be added to us as well. I want to have a simpler focus in my life. Jesus is the center and his grace is what makes me content. Would you join me in trying to embrace a simpler life; one that agrees with the Psalmist David in Psalm 27:4, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” Or like Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) The greatest is the simplest.