Adages and acronyms rule the day. OMG, ‘Actions speak louder than words’, LOL, ‘Attitude is everything’, TTYL, ‘Winners train, losers complain’, TGIF, ‘You play the way you practice.’ We love things to be short and sweet. These days, we NEED things to be short and sweet or we don’t pay attention.
We live in a day where careers, relationships and lives are expressed with brevity. Cell phones and technology are blamed for our lack of patience and inability to wait. Truth be told, ‘everything old is new again.’ The deeper truth is that everything is a spiritual issue. The issue behind impatience and a short attention span is a spiritual battle.
The Psalms are full of encouragement to wait and exercise patience. “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;..” Psalm 37:7. Popular mentality is if the word ‘wait’ is in the solution, there’s a better answer. Today waiting is portrayed to be a sign of weakness, a lack of control and power and not being confident or decisive. Entrepreneurs flock to opportunities where consumers have to wait for more than mere seconds because they believe a quicker solution is always better. The worldly route to glory and riches is found in speed and convenience. Waiting is old school.
Millennials and Gen X’ers feel the brunt of criticism in regards to wanting it all and wanting it now, but they shouldn’t. Impatience has been around forever and is more a reflection on humanity and not how old we are. In this day of instant data and analysis, why did God choose to send His Son in the relative stone age? It’s not as if God doesn’t understand the value of time, but He sees and uses it differently. “…With the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day…Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:8-9. God assigns a greater value to patience and waiting. But, why?
Time is a gift given to us FROM God. In turn, when we give it to someone or something else, it shows the value we assign to that person or activity. How we give our time shows the submission of ourselves and our valuable asset. No one reads a long paragraph much less a long blog or novel. The lie is that everything can be understood and experienced in a condensed version. God may be talked about in a tweet, but He is found and known in the waiting.
The LAST thing Jesus ever said involved waiting. “‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.'” Acts 1:4. God gave the early Christians a gift that allowed them to do greater things than Christ himself, but, they had to wait for it. Jesus was teaching believers to learn the importance of patience and waiting. How long do you wait for a Google search or the ATM to read your debit card? Have you heard the adage, ‘good things come to those who wait’? Do you believe it? Do you practice it?
So, why does everything need to be done so quickly these days? The submission of your time is what it takes to KNOW God, not know OF Him. Next time you get bummed because you’ve been in a taxing job for 4-5 years, remember Abraham was blessed after he waited 25 years for a baby. Noah saved humanity by building a boat that took about 100 years. The world battles against God and does not want you to wait on Him or anything. The world is training you to be impatient and wait on nothing and no one. ‘I want it all and I want it now’ is a lifestyle that can lead to trouble. The Biblical adage is, ‘lust of the flesh’, LOTF.
Judgement is not a popular word, but it is coming. Christ “..will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting on him.” Hebrews 9:28. If popular culture can train us to look for and gain our rewards without having to wait, many will miss salvation.
I believe patience and waiting are a spiritual discipline that we need to return to. Not just for a weekend but as a lifestyle. Yes, it requires a sacrifice of your self and your time. But, “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:5. Waiting and the giving of your time can be a spiritual sacrifice. Build the house you want to live in.
Next time you are tempted to turn from something because it will take an extra minute or two, don’t. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and the use of your time. View your time as a spiritual sacrifice, then WFI, ‘wait for it.’