Lifestyles of Living by Faith

There are several different lifestyles in your life for you to choose from. The way you choose to live determines how well you will live for the rest of your life, and how close you will be to God.

A Simple Lifestyle

A simple lifestyle—which is deleting all the trimmings of life—is your key to unlocking the door to your happiness.  

1.1. Less for More

Live in simplicity, which is living less for more.

You will need your mindfulness to become aware of the essentials of your life, that is, your needs and not your wants. Mindfulness provides you with your daily meditation to give you your clarity of thinking through relaxation of your body and your mind.

So, doing less may give you more. For example, today many work seven days a week, doing two or more jobs, to earn more money to get more of what they want, and not what they need. But doing less may give you more time to enjoy what you need and desire.

1.2. Now for Future

In the now, with your clarity of thinking, you will see the ultimate truths of yourself, of others, as well as of everything around you. In the now, you may look more objectively at the realities of everything happening to you.

The now is for real, but the future is uncertain and unpredictable.

So, live in the now, with no plan for the future, and no expectation of profit from the past.

1.3. Effortless for Over-Doing

All your daily endeavors require your efforts, but not your over-doing, which is over-exerting your efforts. Too much of anything upsets the balance of the Laws of Nature.

The wise have always believed in effortless effort.

1.4. Down for Up

Everything in life follows a natural cycle—what goes up must eventually come down; success is followed by failure. The natural cycle of all things teaches you to be patient of the outcome of all things happening in your life, so you do not need to do more to get more.

So, what is down may go up again, and what is up will come down. That is the spontaneity of the cycle of all things in life. So, you have no fear and no worry in your life.

1.5. No choosing for Picking

Picking this or that is often the sickness of the human mind and the futility to control what is essentially uncontrollable. That often leads to the bondage of stress.

Accepting and embracing whatever that has happened to you and then learn your valuable lessons is the way to go.

So, stop your choosing and picking this or that to control your life.

Letting go

Living in simplicity is letting go of all your attachments to the material things in this secular world that demand your over-doing, such as wearing a designer’s dress, driving an expensive car, living in a rich neighborhood, and many others to gratify your wants and desires in your flesh.

Letting go is living a stress-free life. Remember, all your attachments are only your wants and desires in your flesh.

An Illustration of Humility and Letting Go

Ann Russell Miller, a celebrated socialite from San Francisco, also known as Sister Mary Joseph, with ten children and nineteen grandchildren, had grown up in luxury and privilege. For decades, she’d been living a life of incredible wealth.

Instead of shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue, and decorating herself with jewelry from Tiffany, she suddenly decided to give up everything, and became a nun devoted to living in poverty for the rest of her life. That unbelievable event happened decades ago, and it was then widely reported in the media across the country.

Why did she make such a drastic and incredible change in her life? She said she’d a calling, a true vocation that was very hard to understand for the public, even for the close members of her family.

The bottom line: Living by faith and believing in God, you focus less on your attachments to the material world, and more on others around you. 

Living by faith:  Faith changes your lifestyles, making you do just the opposite. All you need is your trust and your obedience to God, who can "transform" you into anyone.

Stephen Lau