Live with less

It’s been more than a decade since Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up became a global phenomenon and inspired folks to start asking whether this or that particular object “sparked joy,” but the minimalist movement continues to struggle against modern society’s bent toward consumerism. In Uncluttered Faith (WaterBrook, 256 pp.), Joshua Becker advocates minimalism, swapping in Christian theology to replace Kondo’s Eastern spiritualism as a justification for the practice.

Becker’s story begins well before Kondo taught us to tidy up. In 2008, he was working as a pastor to students, and as he cleaned out his garage, he realized that caring for all his stuff was keeping him from meaningful time with the people he loved. He began his journey of minimalism and eventually turned his blog, Becoming Minimalist, into a fulltime career.

In Uncluttered Faith, Becker compares our cluttered, consumer-driven American lives to the third soil in Jesus’ Parable of the Sower: “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” Owning too much stuff takes a mental, emotional, and spiritual toll, keeping the Christian from flourishing.

At its best, Uncluttered Faith gives biblical encouragement for divesting ourselves of materialist concerns. How can we pursue the kingdom of God if we’re continually distracted by the vanities of the city of man? Becker says, “As you minimize the possessions that represent the world’s false offer of abundance, you will maximize your experience of the true abundance Christ freely gives.”

But in stretching these principles to a book-length treatise, Becker sometimes reads too much of his own agenda into the text. For example, his interpretation of Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler misses the point. Becker warns his reader that from a global perspective even poor Americans are relatively rich. But this warning seems at odds with the disciples’ response to Jesus’ statement that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom. They ask, “Who then can be saved?” thinking the rich must have a better shot at redemption than the poor. Jesus doesn’t respond by saying poor people have an easier time of it. He doubles down: “With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” God’s grace is a miracle whether it’s applied to the rich or the poor.

Practical books on Christian living often flirt with a form of prosperity gospel, and Uncluttered Faith occasionally falls into this trap by promising that if you shed your possessions you’ll live your best life. But Becker’s encouragement and ­seven-step method for decluttering are welcome motivations for those of us feeling overwhelmed by all the stuff our consumer-driven culture has foisted on us.