Basic Living

For many people, the sight of an Amish buggy tied up outside their local grocery store would be surprising, to say the least. But in my town, we see Amish folks just about every day.

Personally, I enjoy modern conveniences like a washing machine, dishwasher and hair dryer. Imagine getting up at the crack of dawn to bake bread for your family, hauling water into your home from the community well, farming the old way with a horse drawn plow, or using an outhouse when the temperature is 20 degrees below zero. That kind of basic living is not for me. No, thank you.

But the Amish have always intrigued me, for several reasons. Though they work much harder than we do, their lifestyle seems much simpler than ours and has changed very little in the 400 years since they sailed across the Atlantic to the New World.

To the Amish way of thinking, contact with "outsiders" and their machines and technology must be limited because of this need for separation to prevent them from being defiled by the ways of the world. This extreme stance on separation has caused some evangelicals to decide that the Amish practice a works-based religion, which is not the case.

Most Amish believe, as I do, in salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Our lifestyles may be different, but anyone who has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work of redemption for their salvation is my brother or sister in Christ.

The Amish life is a very basic living, based on a literal interpretation of James 1:27 and I believe other Christians, myself included, could learn a thing or two from them.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

How do you and I keep ourselves "unspotted from the world"?  Purity before God goes far beyond whether or not or how we use technology. Purity is a mindset and a way of life, more than it is an action.

Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. -Matthew 5:8


Psalm 24 asks a poignant question and then provides us with the answer.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. (v 3-5)

Clean hands. Pure heart. Those things please God and this is why the Amish life is so separate from the rest of us. You and I don't need to give up all the modern conveniences to live a pure life, unspotted from the world. Purity, as we noted above, is a mindset and way of life, more than it is an action.

The man of Psalm 1 knew the secret to pure living.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. (v1-3)

What was it that kept this blessed man pure?

Staying away from the ways of the world and staying in the Word of God.

What do you call that kind of lifestyle? Basic living.