I Want It And I Want It NOW!
Ξ August 30th, 2007 | → Comments Off | ∇ Christian Living, New Christians |
Welcome back!
How often have you heard a child say that or an adult say it, for that matter? If we are honest, we know that we ourselves have said a form of that quite often. First thing I think of there is the boss on the Superman series in the 50s with George Reeves. Perry White always wanted something right now. It was in his nature as an editor of the paper. But aren’t we living in the “want it now” generation?
Patience is a virtue. If I ever hear that again, I will scream. That was one phrase I heard so much of my life. GRRRR!! Oh, and another one happened every time I wanted to do something that my parents didn’t. I would get a little upset with them because I wanted it (whatever IT was at the time) and I wanted it right now. Then Dad would say “Let’s don’t and say we did”. (screaming as we speak) I hated that phrase. Why? Because it always happened when I wanted something now. But the problem was that I was being impatient because I didn’t get what I wanted. At the time, I was not willing to wait for things. You’d think that we would grow out of that as we get older, wouldn’t you. Not necessarily.
Hmmm, I see a pattern here. Selfishness and impatience seem to go together. You know, we live in a world where it all comes fast. Information, food, FedEx, overnight shipping. When something isn’t as fast as we expect it to show, we get impatient and upset sometimes….like a small child that does not get what he wants. I remember the screams and crying that usually happened when my child didn’t get her toy when she wanted it.
Can you see that this type of thinking causes major problems? I like to call it “fast food” thinking. We live in a generation of fast food thinkers. It all has to happen right now or else. Or else what? Do you see that impatience causes real problems? For instance, road rage comes from impatience. Bad attitudes often come from impatience. Think about the last time you got upset because something did not happen as soon as you wanted it to happen. And it’s all wrapped up in a sort of self centered, want it now, have to have type thinking.
But God says that we need to be patient. Trust me here, this is one lesson I would love to have forgotten but I know that we must learn this. This is what God has to say about the subject:
(James 1:2-4) My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into different kinds of temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.
I’m not sure we want to get into the idea that we should feel joyful at trials that end up causing us to learn patience but I will do it anyway. Just think. God wants us to be full of the joy of the Lord because we face a trial. Why? Because that’s when we learn patience. There is one little thing here that you should know, just in case you have not noticed this already, God tends to keep us on the lesson until we learn it thoroughly. Meaning, if He is teaching patience, until it’s learned, we may be seeing trials that will allow us to grow in patience. If we can see that this is God at work, we win, don’t we? Now THAT is worth some joy. By the way, the word “joy” does not necessarily mean happiness. It means to be full of the joy of the Lord. You can be content in the Lord and not be happy about a situation.
Frankly, I always wanted to believe that the word “patience” was a dirty word. The problem is that I have been and, at times am impatient, and I do not want to have to wait. Like so many others, I want it NOW too! Did you ever notice yourself getting a little bit antsy when the fast food order doesn’t show up as soon as you think you need it? HA! I knew I wasn’t the only one!
One thing needs to be notice here too. Impatience is a form of selfishness. It is something we want and make it fast! No wonder God is wanting us to learn to wait. I know kids that think the word “wait” is a four letter word. Well, it is but not like that. We can get wrapped up in selfishness so fast…hence the fast food thinking.
The caution here is that we need to teach the kids to learn patience, to wait for things, from the beginning. However, I do think that we teach them to be impatient. The child is crying in the crib. You rush to see what the problem is. It’s the usual thing, diaper needs work, he’s hungry, nothing earth shaking. But you got there right after the child started to cry. That signals the baby that if I cry, I get something I want.
When they get older, in toddler years, for convenience sake, we give them what they’re crying for so that we can find some peace. It might not be much but we want that peace. But see, that teaches the child to be impatient. Sometimes, it does not hurt the child to wait. In fact, it helps a kid if they do have to wait for things occasionally. Most spoiled rotten kids never have to wait for anything because their parents are being run by the kid.
Yes, we do need to teach patience now. That’s a tough one in these times but it is a must. God considers this important so we need to do the same and start exercising our patience especially when we would really rather scream and demand it happen now or else. From God’s point of view, the “or else” will likely be another lesson on the same subject. Okay, moving on now. 
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