The Microwave Generation

Ding! Awwwww- the sound that says our food is ready. The ding that tells us that what we put in this amazing box-like appliance just moments ago is now hot and ready to eat. The microwave oven has been a constant part of my life and I love it. Since its appearance on the consumer market in 1967 millions have been sold. There’s one in just about every home in the U.S. I’ll bet there’s one in yours.

Since its inception our generation has become accustom to getting things quick. That instant satisfaction has become such a characteristic that we have a catch phrase-the microwave generation. Yep, that’s us. We want our every need taken care of in a blink of an eye. Wait? No way! Just think of how the consumer market caters to this need. Sprint’s 4G network that’s the fastest ever! Phones that will let you surf the net anywhere because waiting till we get home for that facebook update is too long. Internet service has to be roadrunner fast. Food that you can drive up to a restarunt and get from without leaving your car in 5 miuntes or less!  If you want it- now’s the time to get it. Right now.. don’t wait. And if our generation is bad, just look at the one coming up behind us. Scary!

So, what’s this entire thing have to do with our book? The key is instant satisfaction. It’s one of the reasons I believe so many of us turn to false gods. We don’t want to wait on God. We want something to satisfy that longing or pain right away.

In chapter six Kelly looks at why we run to idols instead of God. She says,

“So much of what draws us to our personal gods has to do with where our needs are, where we hurt, why we hurt, and how we desire that pain to be satiated."

Kelly talks about how important it is to understand why we turn to our false gods. It’s important to get to the root of the problem if we expect to change the behavior. (Note: We’ll need God’s help to do this, but it’s critical to understand what the root of our need is for idols. If you don’t know what the root of the problem is, then take some time in prayer to ask God to reveal it to you.)

For me, I turn to the idols in my life to fill emotions needs I feel I have. Loneliness, fear, lack of self worth is my big three. Many times to fill that space I’ll turn to food. It’s my main false god. Food is a quick and easy fix. There’s that instant satisfaction again. I want comfort and I want it now! This is one that I have to spend some time with the Lord asking Him to help me understand.

Perhaps my favorite part of the chapter came with the explanation of Matthew 11:28-30.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

God knows that we will seek satisfaction in something. He invites us to come to him and find rest. This rest requires that we take the yoke of Jesus. I’ve read this passage many times and often wondered how taking Jesus’ yoke upon myself will lead to rest. Kelly explains it beautifully.

“This rest requires that we take his yoke, which is easy and light. The word yoke is not something we toss around too often today, as it’s an apparatus placed on cattle to join them to one another so they can pull something like a plow. But the principle is so beautiful and vital to understanding what it means for God to be God in our life, as opposed to gods functioning as God. Metaphorically, the word is a picture of bondage or slavery, what doesn’t sound particularly restful to me, sort of as exciting as sticking my head in a gallows. But if I can borrow from Romans 6:16 for a minute, the bottom line is that we are all slaves to something, whether to sin or to righteousness; ‘Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?’ Paul explains that whatever we obey-whatever we offer ourselves to-becomes our master.”

In the beginning taking on Jesus’ yoke seems contrary to what we believe in our hearts. Taking on the yoke of obedience can feel “heavy and life-sucking while the sparkle and promise of our favorite false god can look irresistible.” Proverbs 14:12 says

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

In the end turning to the false gods in our lives will weigh us down with a heavy burden and leads to death.

Human Nature

I love to study nature. Just to see the way the nature works fascinates me. How the bee knows where to find nectar or how photosynthesis works. How the planets revolve round the sun without going off course or how the mountains are formed. How tornados are created or how creatures adapt to their environments. All of it amazes me. Plants, animals, weather, and the earth itself. To say I was an Earth Science geek in school would be an understatement.

But of all the things that most fascinate me, its how all creatures have a built in instinct to know just how to take care of themselves and their young. Just think, minutes after a foal is born, it’s walking. The creatures God created are amazing, but none more so than man.

Our human nature was given to us by God. He created us with certain basic instincts and desires. The instinct to eat when we get hungry, to drink when we thirst, to protect our young when they are threatened were all encoded into our DNA. All of these are innate parts of our being. We are hard wired with the desire to seek out love and relationship and most importantly to worship. God created us to worship. What we worship is the ultimate question.

In chapters 4-5 Kelly dives into this issue of who we are to worship. She begins by taken us back to the days of Sunday school where we learned the Ten Commandments. The first commandment is the most important.

“I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” (Exodus 20:2)

The Lord begins by setting up His authority. If we do not except that He is Lord then all the other commandments have little meaning in our lives.

Not only do we need to settle that Jesus is Lord, but also that He is the only God. In today’s culture, with its open acceptance of every religion and tolerance for everyone mentality, we are in danger of forgetting that there is only one God.

So why do we need to settle this in our hearts right off the bat?

“If God is not God, if he is not the only God in our lives, then his commands and principles and truths become matters of suggestion that we’re free to savor or toss at our whims.”

I love how God reminds us with just a tiny word that our relationship with him is personal. Remember the first part of Exodus 20:2? “I am the LORD thy God.” There is it, that tiny word- thy. I am the Lord your God. Not just any God, but your God. It’s personal. It’s relational. I like how Kelly says it,

“It’s the one word that changes everything, the word that brings what could have been a faceless God into a reachable One….” She asks, “Is he God, or is he your God?”

Being in a relationship with God will give you the strength to turn from your idols and live for God.

So back to our human nature. We’re designed to worship something. Whether it is God or an idol, we’re going to worship one or the other.

“If we’re not in a personal relationship with him, we will absolutely be in it with something else, a false god, because our hearts are designed in such a way as to be intimate with something.”

So which one will we choose?