We live in a society of instant. Easy. And cheap.

Tomatoes

It takes me 60-75 days to grow a tomato in my garden. Daily weeding, water twice a day, watching… guiding the branches… pruning… waiting for the fruit to ripen just so.

Or I could go to Vons and buy a pound of tomatoes on sale for $.97.

Instant. Easy. Cheap. 

Amazon

An author spends months writing. The publisher spends thousands of dollars developing the manuscript into a book. It goes to a printer where page after page is checked, rechecked, before that book is cut and shipped to the publisher. Every step a labor of love.

But I can go to Amazon.com and buy it, it’ll probably arrive tomorrow. Or I can just download the Kindle version for $3.99 and get it in under a minute.

I’ll probably never read it.

Instant. Easy. Cheap. 

Jesus

Following Christ has never been easy. The New Testament documents a group of men learning to die to themselves. While the spent just 3 years literally walking with Jesus, they spent a lifetime walking in his steps. Most of them died, literally, in the service of Jesus.

Just like the society of Jesus’ time wanted to create short-cuts to a God-pleased life by setting up rigorous and sometimes ridiculous religious rules, ours wants to create short-cuts to wholeness, to a life of meaning, and towards holiness.

Instant. Easy. Cheap. 

Only problem is that there are no short-cuts.

Following Jesus is hard.

Day-by-day you step into the counter-cultural realities. Day-by-day you have to die to yourself and embrace the practical challenge of becoming a living sacrifice.

It takes time. It hurts. Some successes only come after years of failure.

Long-suffering in a World of Short-suffering

We live in a society with no patience. A tragedy is slow internet. We gripe on Twitter when a flight that covers 2,000 miles is 20 minutes late. We use products like Bisquick and Easy Rice because boiling water or mixing 5 ingredients is just too slow.

It breeds a false sense of importance. As if our time is somehow more valuable than anyone else’s.

We have no idea the power of waiting. 

Long-suffering – patiently enduring lasting offense or hardship.

Colossians 1:9-12, The Message

Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.