Waiting for our Wants

​I was meeting with a client today and we were talking about what it is to wait and what it looks like these days. As we talked about what waiting looks like today compared to what it looked like when we were young, we discussed about what it was like to have to wait until we got home to make a phone call. We didn’t have a cell phone and the ability to call someone right away. In today’s world with the technology we have, the world is teaching us waiting does not have to be an option. We can post something on social media and the whole world sees that we had lunch with a friend within seconds of the post.
I mean to think about it, text messaging is faster than a telephone call and we get a response instantly. For example, my kids can call me while I’m in a meeting and if I can’t answer I can text them right back. An email is faster than snail mail and again we get a faster response. We can pay for our meals and have them delivered to our car within minutes. I’m not saying any of this is bad but what are we teaching our kids and even ourselves? However, we must ask the question “Is this really good?” Think about it! Back in the day we had more time before we had to wait to respond to something. Today, we do too much reacting because we don’t have to wait. So, are we creating more issues because we don’t wait to respond to an email or text? Again, we live in a world today that teaches us “We don’t have to wait.”
I’m here to tell you and myself we have been deceived.
So, put this in perspective, we might get our food quickly, but if we waited to get our food we most likely we would choose a healthier food option. I mean look at Facebook we see a comment or picture and we don’t take time to think through how we should respond, we just react because we don’t wait. This goes for emails and texting. On the other hand, if we push through the want with a timely wait, we could thoughtfully respond so others, so they will see Christ in us. Can we collectively agree, things usually turn out better when we wait? 
I remember when I was younger, my brother and I played football and we wanted these special air pack helmets. The reason we wanted these helmets is because we thought we could hit people harder because they had air packs in them. My dad told us we could have them, but we would have to work and save money to get them. My brother and I saved money from cutting grass and going to work with our Dad. In time, we both were able to get one. However, the thing we didn’t realize was that our dad was teaching us that we had to wait and most importantly we were still learning how to hit correctly while playing football. If we didn’t wait and had instant gratification, we have likely damage ourselves or someone else Because in our minds, if we had these helmets then we could just run through people. Isn’t this like life today? We get things without waiting and then what damage did we caused because we didn’t wait?
As adults, the value of what we wait for is far greater than the cost of an air pack helmets. We wait for the salvation of a loved one, the healing of our friend, the end of our own long-term health issue, deliverance from addictions, a positive result on a pregnancy test, or the end of unemployment. The value of what we wait for is so great that we can easily become derailed from life.
These things are important to pray about, for sure. But when they become all-consuming, their value is magnified — especially the longer we wait. Some carry greater weight than we originally thought, while some carry less. As the days, months and years pass, we can put more energy, effort, prayer, conversations, and yes, sometimes manipulation and guilt trips, into making these things come to pass. Without realizing it, we exchange the Person of our faith for the object of our wait.

Waiting well means staying peaceful in the present while looking forward to the future. Our wait may not be as quick as a social media post, but we can trust God to work while we wait and bring about an ending for our good and His glory.
Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him” (Isaiah 64:4).