Was Jesus a Minimalist? 

Americans have accumulated more clutter over the last hundred years. In 1930, the average woman only had 36 pieces of clothes in her closet. Today, the average consumer has 120 items of clothing, but 80% go unworn according to Cladwell.

While the concept of decluttering and minimalism is not new, it has been in the spotlight with popular books like Marie Kondo’s The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up. Over the last 10 years, there have been a plethora of documentaries, television shows, podcasts, and books about decluttering and minimalism.

While there are so many personal benefits to decluttering and minimalism, the next two articles will consider the spiritual benefits of decluttering. It turns out that there are plenty of verses that talk about possessions and their impact on our lives and discipleship. We will focus primarily on 2 passages in the gospels where Jesus teaches on this topic. It turns out that Jesus himself was a minimalist.