One night I was bored and resumed an activity I had done during COVID – a video game on my Kindle. I am a total idiot with math puzzle games but give me anything visual and I’m all in. One night I was so enthralled that I didn’t go to bed until 1AM. Time just raced by.
THE WAKEUP CALL
Shortly after that late night, I read Voice of the Martyrs “Global Prayer Guide”. Each day’s reading is devoted to a different country. It gives a brief snapshot of the persecution taking place in that country and how we can pray for it. I read about the #1 country in the world for persecution of Christians (and anyone else who doesn’t agree with the state). The state requires all citizens to function as informants – even young children are taught to spy on their parents from a young age. When a Christian is discovered, the government punishes the entire family. Those “lucky” enough to not be executed suffer in prison and labor camps.
THE GIFT OF MEMORIZATION
What caught my attention was that “few people ever have access to Scripture because of the regime’s unceasing efforts to restrict access. Most of the underground Christians find memorization the safest and most effective way to keep God’s Word.”
Wow – is that convicting! I had been wasting hours trying to gain points on a video game with nothing to show for it. I just got off the Minimalist Challenge with physical things. Could I do it with mental/spiritual items? What does it take to move to a minimalist mind?
CHANGING TO A MINIMALIST MIND
I deleted the game from my Kindle. In its place, I have a notebook I carry with me containing handwritten memory verses. If ever there is a time in my life I need to carry God’s Word in my mind and heart, it is now. Knowing the location of the candlestick in the videogame room on my Kindle is just not going to help me get it through my day.
So, the deal is, the notebook travels with me. On my commute to work the notebook on the passenger seat so that at red lights I can find hints for any Scripture I am saying out loud and am stymied. (Yes, I actually am a careful driver). Right now, I’m working on I Peter 4:7-11. It is an applicable passage considering it begins with “The end of all things is near.”
Do you also need to begin working on a Minimalist Brain and Spirit and to clean up the clutter? Delete those things that side-track your mind from Christ.
Take heart from the words good old Minimalist Apostle Paul: “You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you. (Ephesians 4:20-24)