Living plainly and serving God: Part 2

I want a life filled with a love of God, of people, and of God’s creation. A life where unimportant things are deemed to be just that, and do not interfere with the priorities of faith, family and community. A life lived plainly, serving God.

The first post on Amish life explored some ways in which the Amish lifestyle implemented Christian goals of taking dominion over the earth and loving one another. The goal was to consider prioritising what is truly important, even if it means doing without some things that seem good.

While Amish people implement elements of God’s truth excellently, they also gravely misunderstand what God intends for humanity. Their central misunderstanding concerns the gospel. While aspects of their lifestyle may be worthwhile models of the Creation Mandate and Great Commandment in action, they do not understand the Great Commission.

The Amish frown upon anyone in the community who claims to have been “saved”. They believe this claim to be a form of pride. Yet the Bible teaches that it is the opposite. Those who understand their sinful nature, and know that Christ’s death and resurrection paid for their sin, become new people in Christ who know that God is the one who has rescued them.

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up together" Ephesians 2: 4 – 6a.

When God saves a person he brings them into the community of God’s people. Yet salvation is still an individual matter. Each person must repent of sin, and be freed from its effects through becoming a new person in Christ. This results in praise to God, not in pride about “achieving” salvation.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2: 8 – 9.

The Amish also misunderstand the Great Commission through withdrawing from “the world” to an extreme extent. Their practices indicate that they may misunderstand the nature of the human heart. When Jesus taught the Pharisees, he told them that what is “without” does not defile a person. Rather, wickedness comes from the heart.

“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness . . . pride” (Mark 7:21 – 22).

These human problems cannot be solved through altering the surroundings: wearing certain clothes, avoiding certain technologies, associating only with certain people. Altering surroundings may help, but it cannot solve the deepest human problems.

The Amish lifestyle remains, however, a challenge to those of us who live in the midst of a Christian culture that frequently mirrors the world. Those of us who understand the gospel in its fullness are called to be distinct from those who do not know God.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” Ephesians 2:10.

Sometimes cultures that do not understand the gospel show up those of us who do, through better living out aspects of who God created us to be. The Amish culture is one of those. Why don’t Christians have divorce rates lower than the Amish? Why don’t they work harder to maintain community? The gospel should transform Christians and make them more distinct than Amish communities.

Personally, my window on the Amish fills me with a desire to seek out a life that is filled with true bounty: the bounty of a livelong love, a flourishing garden, a fruitful womb, and a quiet appreciation for God’s simple gifts.

I want any children God gives us to grow up with an attitude of honour toward parents, a love for and commitment to the church, a rejection of desires that would cause us to live beyond our means, and a willingness to sacrifice individual interests for the sake of community.

I want a life filled with a love of God, of people, and of God’s creation. A life where unimportant things are deemed to be just that, and do not interfere with the priorities of faith, family and community. A life lived plainly, serving God.