Instant Gratification...all we know

We live in a society that is all about having things at an instant.  If things take seconds they are slow; if we wait in line for 10 minutes for our morning coffee we get frustrated.  Why?  Why has it gotten to this point?  Is it technology?  Can we blame all of this on the advancement of technology?

I read an article, The New Internet, in Relevant Magazine's 59th issue and was dumbfounded.  This is what part of it said:

"The most immediate of the Internet’s big changes is an evolution in speed. Recent innovations have made it possible for the Internet to run 250 times faster than its current top speeds, and the National Science Foundation is asking tech-heads to build apps with an assumption of zero load time. Zero load time. In the very near future, waiting for a website will be a thing of the very distant past." (click here for the full article)
 

Wait, the idea of waiting is soon going to be a thing of the past?  Have things gone so far to make the idea of waiting a bad thing or an inconvenience?

I just wrote a message for a service this Sunday on the idea of being satisfied and what dawned on me is that the culture we live in today, at least in North America, is one of being unsatisfied; nothing is ever enough.  Why?

I think that we are looking in all the wrong places and therefore instant gratification is the only thing we can actually grasp and see.

Thinking about instant gratification leads me to thinking about the ultimate instant gratification, porn.  I heard a stat the other day that said that porn websites dominate 80% of the World Wide Web.  Can you believe that?  80 percent of what is on the web is porn.  Take that in for a second.  Is this what we want as a society?

Instant gratification is all my generation (born in the 80s) knows.  We only know things as fast and instant.  Even more, the generation now that I am dealing with as a youth worker doesn't even know what it's like to not have the internet!

In all my studies I keep on being reminded of where true satisfaction lies.  It is not from the world we see, or the culture of the past, although He did walk in this world.

Instant gratification is like junk food because it seems good at first, but it leads to an unhealthy lifestyle that just craves more of it; the more you eat, the more you want.  We need to get back to what lasts, to what sustains.

Let me know what you think.


Till next time...

Money - Does it separate people?

Over the last 2 weeks or so I have been actually consumed with money.  Not in wanting so much of it, but I have just been stressed because it was the end of the month and budgets were so low that I am in charge of in my marriage.

Sometimes money takes over.  We live in a society that is driven by money.  Without it you can't really function.  You need it so essentially live!

I as sitting in a Starbucks about a week ago and was reading Messy Church (the book I most recently finished).  About 20 or so minutes after I sat down a brother and sister came in and sat close to me in the seating area and started talking about random things (if you don't know me very well, I am a bit nosy and love to listen in on conversations about what people are talking about.  Some may say it's being a creeper, but I just think it's cool to hear what various people across the city are talking about!).

Throughout listening I noticed a couple things.  Now, I am assuming a lot in my noticing, but just journey with me:

• The younger brother (who I guess was in grade. 10 or 11) had the new iPhone 5, the sister still sitting with the iPhone 4S
• The brother pulled out a new 15" Macbook Pro
• Their conversation was revolving around all the things that they were doing that would cost significant amounts of money
• They were both very trendy dressers
• It seemed, and I'm assuming here, that they had money and were not worried about not having it

After noticing these few things I thought about money and how it separates people; well it does because we let it.  And this leads me to my point.

The reality is that status in our world is essentially revolved around money; if you have lots you are important.  If you have none you are not important.  Seriously, think of how we treat people, talk, or think about people...things change the moment we know what they do for a living and guess how much they make.

Money separates people because we let it.

Could it be that it is not just money that does the separation, but it is our mindset?  Could it be that the people who make the money have little to do with the separation that exists because of the money?  Could it be that what we think about people leads to the separation?

I am reminded of how Jesus told us that we have to make a choice between Him and money.  All to often we think of it as just our personal finances and such, but I believe Jesus always thinks big.  Believe it or not, when our minds wonder to, I wonder how much this person makes? or Wow that person is dressing so nice, I bet she has a lot of money, or I can't relate to this person because they just have so much more money than me, we are being a slave to money; we are choosing money over our relationship with Christ.

I believe that the bigger issue of separation because of money has to do with our thinking and mindset more than it has to do with how much people make.

This has been something, and is something, that I continue to struggle with.

Why does it matter what others make?  Why does it matter what others have?  Why does it matter?

That leads to something else, but I am not going to talk about that in this post...maybe later.

Let me know your thoughts.  I love would love to hear from anyone who has one.

Just plain blah...but grateful

Maybe it's just me, but over the past few days, here in Toronto, the weather has been less than optimal; Wednesday being the worst of them.  Dark, cloudy, humid, rainy, just plain blah.

Can weather dictate our emotions?  Do we have a choice?  Can we choose to make the most of the day?

For me, this week I have let the weather dictate my emotions.

Unlike some people, I have a window in my office (although it feels more like a prison cell window because of the metal bars and such, but I digress).  Throughout the day I catch myself looking out the window to see if the sun is shining, or if it's still cloudy.  When the sun shines through it brightens my whole office and I feel a lot better.  But, if it's dark and the lights in my office are lighting it up then I just feel a little down.

It's crazy how the weather can hamper my outlook on the day.  Some may say it's just coincidence, but I don't.

When I wake up in the morning what do I choose?  Do I choose to say that 'regardless of the weather I am going to have a great day'?  Sometimes, yes.  Other times, no.

I have been doing something at the end of each day to help me with being thankful for the day. Shortly after 9 o'clock pm each day I sit down at my kitchen table and right down a number of things: emotions I had, attitudes I recognized, old habits I am trying to let go of, and any other things that come to mind.  At the end of my writing comes the part that always brings my spirits up, the gratitude list.  No matter how bad of a day I have had (they have not been the best over the past week) I always right the things that I am grateful for that day.  What seems to happen is I see the positive things that happened in that day.  As crazy as it sounds if I only write that I am grateful for life, that is an amazing thing to be thankful for.

It makes me remember that days are given not just to complain about the bad things, but are given for us to learn and be grateful for simple, just another day.

I have had a pretty blah week.  My emotions have been up and down, but through it all I have seen things that I can be grateful for.

Can weather dictate emotions?  Yes, we can let it dictate our emotions, and I have sure let it dictate mine this week, but the greater thing to remember is to just be thankful and grateful for what we have.

We have so much and yet we are always complaining here in Canada.  Why is that?  My answer: because we never think about the things that we are grateful for; we let the negative things control our minds instead of letting the positive things flow from our mouths


Why do you think we are always complaining?


Let me hear what you have to think.


Till next time.

Rules, Laws, Restrictions

What is it about rules?
Why do we have so many laws to abide by?
Are we living in an age of so much restrictions?

These are just some of the questions that I have been mulling over in my head over the past week or so.  I think I may be just over thinking some things, but let me rant for a little bit.

In the Old Testament there are rules, and LOTS of them.  There is rule and restriction for everything you could possible imagine.  So much so that it tied the hands of the people who lived within all of these restrictions; they didn't really have a choice to do what they wanted, or act the way they wanted.  They were subject to a bunch of rules.

When Jesus came to earth He not necessarily questioned what the rules and restrictions were, but He questioned the purpose as to why they were there.  Some of the rules were legitimate and had a purpose, but others...not so much.

Now I know where you think I am going, but I am not going there.  I am not this guy that thinks there should be no rules on anything.  I believe in an ordered society where people are kept accountable and there are consequences for actions.  I believe this to be true not just in our country and place of residence, but in our churches as well.  It is important to have order.

The problem that I see is at what point do these rules, laws, and restrictions hinder a person's relationship with Christ?

Is there a set number?  Maybe after 15 rules, then it is hindering the relationship with Christ?  Or maybe 30? 50? 10?

In the Old Testament there were over 600 rules that the Israelites obeyed.  That's a lot of rules.  On some levels it denied anyone else the ability to enter into a relationship with God because if they weren't obeyed by, then you're out (not exactly, but you see my point).

This brings me to the bigger question of all of this.  One that I have been wrestling with since I spoke on Christmas Day 2011 at my church:

Why did Christ come to earth?

I think He came because He didn't want just a bunch of law followers with no soul.  He wanted people.  People that have hearts and have freedom.  Freedom from the constraints of rules, laws, and restrictions.  Following Christ means freedom.  Freedom to live the way, I believe, God intended it in the first place: to be in a relationship with God.

Let me state clearly again.  I have no problem with rules.  Without them there is anarchy and people take advantage of everyone and everything.  There needs to be rules.  But at what point do rules negate the reason why Christ came (to bring freedom)?

I questions rules, laws, and restrictions when they deter us away from a relationship with Christ; when following Him becomes following a bunch of rules.  That has been done before, and, maybe, worked for a time, but it's not the way God wants it anymore, or He wouldn't have sent is Son, Jesus.

So I'll ask the question again,

Why did Christ come to earth?

Let me know what you think.  

I appreciate your comments and thoughts!

Till next time.

Music, or what we refer to as 'worship' in churches

Christian music used to have many genres; from adult contemporary, to rock, to R&B, it used to have as many as mainstream music. Now, 'worship' dominates the Christian music industry.

Do I have a problem with the music, no, not at all. What I do have a problem with is calling it 'worship music', or in our churches calling it 'worship' because if we call it solely that then we miss the complete definition of what worship is: a life completely and solely dedicated to following Jesus Christ; a person devoting everything about their self to God. Singing songs of praise is just a part of worship.

What I am struggling with more and more of late is not the people putting out music that can be sung corporately in a church, but making a living on videos of others worshipping and putting out album after album.

Am I saying that putting videos together of others worshipping is a bad thing? No. For some it encourages them in their journey with Christ; it helps them.

I guess i just feel uncomfortable with people making money on videos and on 'worship' music.

A friend of mine was telling me of the congregation that he goes to and that they don't sing any of the mainstream 'worship' songs that are available to sing legally at a price (check out CCLI for more information). Instead, the congregation writes their own songs and sings them. He said that some of the songs aren't the best, but for some reason it just feels right.

Is there something wrong with what we have coined as 'worship'? I just know it's bigger than songs, videos, bands, and music.

To make money off of 'worship' just doesn't sit well with me.

This is what's on my mind.

Let me know what you think.

The Underground Church

Over the last week I have been reading through a book called "Tortured for Christ", which has been informative to say the least; stories upon stories recounted from Richard Wurmbrand, founder of "The Voice of the Martyrs".

I guess I really don't know what to say about the whole thing; I am speechless regarding what I could explain and my opinion on this. The truth is none of us in North America truly know what it is like to risk our life for our faith. Sure, maybe at school we stand up for our faith and people laugh and make fun of us, but being made fun of and having a gun pointed at you and if you don't renounce your faith you will be shot are two completely different things.

In Canada we have it so good. We don't have to hide our identity at all in life, yet we are scared to talk about Christ with others. For the longest time I was ashamed to bring my Bible out on the subway because I didn't want to get into conversations about it.

What does this say about our faith?
What does this say about my faith?

The Underground Church across the world are meeting in attics and basements and buildings knowing that if they get caught they will be subject to imprisonments, beatings, and other forms of torture, or death. But, they still meet.

We in free countries are debating ridiculous things about the Bible, meanwhile, people all across the world are being killed for simply believing.

At first, upon reading this book, I thought the writer was just complaining to much about how the Church in the west is just too self-centered that we can't see people dying across the world, but he is right.

How many of our churches in North America are praying for these people across the world?

How many of us, as individuals, are praying for these people?

How many of us even know that that this is going on in our world today?

How many of us know that Christians are hunted in places like Somalia like we hunt deer and other animals here in Canada?

We are so self-centered here in North America that we can't see it and I include myself in on the 'we'.

The book has made me think a lot about what I am concerned about on a daily basis. I don't know what it's like to be a person who has been tortured for my faith, or imprisoned, or killed for my faith.

This is just what's 'on my mind...'

Let me know what you think. I want to hear your thoughts.

Andrew


***For more information on 'The Voice of the Martyr's' just type it in Google and you will find it.