BBD 03.08.06 Instant Gratification
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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03.08.06
Instant Gratification
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my
departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that
Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. - 2
Timothy 4:6-8.
Elke den Ouden has written a thesis at the Technical University of Eindhoven
in the Netherlands. In a study, she found that one-half of all products that
were returned because of not working actually do work. The problem is that
the customer did not know how to operate the product. There is a constant
flow of new electronic devices and gadgets being brought into the
marketplace from MP3 players to thin screen televisions. It was found that
the average person who purchases one of these in the United States would
only try for 20 minutes to make it work before they give up. However, even
some of the managers of one electronics company when asked to operate their
own products were frustrated in trying to make them work properly.
I for one understand the frustration since I am an owner of a MP3 player
that I have never been able to operate. I, however, have tried not just for
20 minutes but for several hours to make it work. There is another simpler
to operate device called a sledgehammer that I am thinking I may try on my
MP3 player. Maybe it will relieve some of my frustration.
We live in an age of instant gratification. We have microwaves for quickly
zapping our food. We have televisions with remotes to provide immediate
access to entertainment, news and weather. If the television channels do not
provide the information we want quickly enough we can use our computers
through the Internet to find whatever we want. If it is too cold, we adjust
the thermostat. If it is too hot, we adjust the thermostat. Immediate
gratification is what we get and what we expect, and the list goes on and
on.
This age of instant gratification has invaded our faith. There have even
been drive through church services and communion offered by some. We pray
and we want the answer right then, not tomorrow, or next week, or next
month, or next year. However, we cannot speed up the will of God. We attend
church a few times and we instantly want all of our problems to disappear
but it does not work that way.
God does not work like an electronic device even when you can operate the
device. God has His own timing and His own plans for our lives and often
that timing and those plans do not mesh with ours. From the time, that I
first heard clearly God's call for me to preach His Word to the time that I
actually began to do so took some eleven years. During those eleven years, I
knew what God wanted but there were barriers preventing it from being
brought about. I realize now it was a matter of God's timing and His
preparing, training me, for what was to come.
The apostle Paul says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
race, I have kept the faith." Paul is not talking about an instant faith.
The Christian life is a continuing process, which requires our faithfulness,
and steadfastness. The Christian life does not happen and will not happen
just by attending a 60-minute church service once a week. The Christian life
is not an electronic device. It is a labor of love that never ends.
Copyright © 2006. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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