INSTANT GRATIFICATION VS LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT

We live in an instant society. Instant potatoes. Instant coffee. Instant meals. That comes with drawbacks. Instant potatoes are nowhere close to real mashed potatoes…no matter what the commercials might say. Instant oatmeal. I remember liking and eating CoCo Wheats. They certainly weren’t instant. They seemed to take forever to cook. Microwaves coming along made things even quicker. They tell me instant coffee is nowhere close to fresh ground bean coffee. (I wouldn’t know since I don’t drink either).

There is nothing wrong with microwaves and instant meals or instant anything. However, what one might sacrifice in taste, for example, is made up for in convenience and quickness.

There isn’t anything wrong with instant anything except that it will never happen in spiritual growth. In Bible study last night we were discussing 2 Peter 1:5-7: “In view of all this , make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.” (New Living Translation). Those three verses show that spiritual growth is not instant, but, is instead, a process. In this case, of adding one virtue on top of another. Sort of like building blocks. There is no such animal as “instant growth.” Physically. Mentally. Spiritually. To become the man or woman God desires requires that we take it step by step. Sometimes we will notice huge gains and other times the pace is as slow as a snail.

Whichever the case-move forward. Slowly prodding or sprinting. It is a long distance run. Just keep moving forward. Keep growing. Don’t be satisfied with stagnation or the status-quo.