I’ve noticed something recently. People aren’t content. I know this isn’t groundbreaking news, but for me it has become a startling realization. Even though most of us have all of our needs taken care of, we are not fulfilled. We long for that which we don’t have and want to be places we aren’t.
Why aren’t we content? Why do we always seek out whatever is next instead of enjoying what we have now?
America, and my generation in particular, is a people of “me.” We live for whatever will serve our own ends. We have been raised this way. “Do whatever makes you feel good.” “You are number one.” “What you have isn’t good enough.” We have been fed these lines from the media, teachers, friends, and family our entire lives. We have been taught that the world revolves around us and that we, in our present state, aren’t good enough to be who we have been told we need to be. This is why we have to have the newest iPhone, live in the trendiest town, and drive the most expensive car. We are wired to long for what we don’t have. This is especially true when it comes to our stages in life. It is easy for us to want to press the fast-forward button and skip forward when our lives seem boring and fruitless. Do you remember the movie Click? In the movie, Adam Sandler’s character receives a magical remote control that allows him to control his life. He is literally able to fast-forward his life whenever he wants, but he can’t rewind. At the beginning, he uses the remote to skip remedial activities such as sleeping, showering, and driving to work, but he soon skips three months ahead to see if he gets a promotion, and then he continues to skip more and more of his life because he is intrigued by the future. In no time, he is lying on his deathbed and realizes that his life is near over and he has wasted it by constantly skipping forward to whatever he perceived to be the next big thing.
Life has to be more than just anticipating future events, doesn’t it?
Jim Elliot, the missionary to the Waodani people of Ecuador who died on the mission field, once said, “Wherever you are—be all there.” This hits the nail on the head. It is so easy for us to long for the future or think about what could have been, but we must understand that we are God’s witnesses everywhere we are. God has each and every one of us in unique places and situations for specific reasons. His ways don’t always make sense to us, but they are perfect because He is perfect.
I am a forward thinker. I always have been. This forward thinking is somewhat obsessive. For example, I started searching for colleges in fourth or fifth grade. I wasn’t even in Junior High and I was already starting to map out a decision I wouldn’t have to make for seven more years. Growing up in California’s Mojave Desert didn’t help, either. It is easy to think and dream about living near the beach where there is surf, palm trees, and a high of seventy-five when you are used to dirt, Joshua trees, and a high of one hundred ten. I have had to learn that while forward thinking isn’t bad, it can impede my abilities to enjoy the now. There is nothing I can do to control the future; all I have is the present.
So often I hear people, my friends and people in my ministry, say that they really want to serve God, but they just aren’t ready to right now. They say they don’t have the resources to serve God, but someday, when they have those resources, then they will be ready to be a sold-out, on fire believers who have nothing to lose and everything to gain from working to further the Kingdom of God. this logic is so backwards. We must look for ways to serve God here and now because wherever we are, God has us there for a reason. God had me grow up in the desert for a reason. He had me go through Junior High and High School and didn’t let me skip to college for a reason. Just as we often live life in an expectation of the things to come, so too do we wait to serve God. I think the Enemy’s biggest weapon against Christians is his ability to paralyze us from doing the will of God. Think about it. Since he has already lost the battle for our souls, the next best thing he can do is stop us from reaching out to the lost.
