The Evangelist’s Pen

"Pushbutton Religion"

In today's society we want everything instantly! We are conditioned not to wait for anything! A woman has a baby and goes home the same day. We have outpatient surgery and go right home. We cook in a microwave oven which takes a small fraction of the time it would take to cook in the conventional manner and we tap our feet, drum our fingers on the counter top and talk to the microwave impatiently, telling it to, "Hurry up!" We go to a fast food restaurant, where the food is cooked and delivered into our hands in mere minutes, rather than having to spend an hour or more to prepare a meal, and complain about how slow the service is! We are surrounded by modern conveniences, appliances and gadgets that make almost every aspect of life easier and faster, leaving us with more leisure time than any generation in the history of the world. Yet we squander all that extra time on useless activities, eating too much and lounging around watching television far more than we should.

We are the age of the quick fix for everything. And it carries over into our spiritual life, making it nearly impossible for God to work in us. We totally ignore His directive to set aside 1 day in every 7 exclusively for Him to work in us, complaining that we "can't be expected to be in church all the time." We're too busy to read the Bible, but complain because our faith is weak, our children are rebellious, our marriages are falling apart and we cannot seem to achieve happiness or feel peace in our lives. The reason is that we treat God just like we have been conditioned to treat everything else. "OK, I'm here, but I don't have long, so let's get this show on the road. I don't have time for a long sermon, don't ask me to stick around for an altar service and I won't be here for the evening service or midweek, because I'm just too busy." "Sing me happy, entertain me, make me feel good, preach a sermonette, pray for me (not with me) about all my problems, then dismiss and let me be on my way." "Pour it in me, pour it over me, throw it at me, or something, because I don't have a lot of time." We want the quickie spiritual treatment, the instant blessing, the immediate response from God. Do you know, I honestly believe that Pentecost could not take place in our day, as it did 2,000 years ago, because NO ONE would tarry for 10 days, no matter what God promised to do!!!

We don't have a clue what it means to "Be still, and know that I am God." We could not possibly fathom what God meant when He said, "Seek my face." Most probably think it must be made up that David rose before dawn to pray and seek God, that he wept all night, longing to be closer to the Lord. "As the deer panteth after water, so my soul longeth after Thee." Slow down and let God do something in and for you!!!