I Want It Now!

I belong to a certain generation. You know us. We’re the ones who walked to school in the snow – uphill – both ways. We love to comment on how our kids are behaving, how the government is going to the dogs and how disciplined we were as kids growing up.

Seriously, if we wanted something, we earned the money or saved our allowance. Nothing came easily; more important nothing came quick! We planned and we waited and we yearned. When we finally got the treasure, we appreciated it for a good little while.

This will not be a sermon about how young people today don’t appreciate what they have. Or how easy it is to get it. The desire to have it now affects each one of us. Immediacy is the name of the game. We missed that movie? On demand! Oh, I loved that song. Itunes! (Okay, this one is a particular issue for me these days. I have a new ipod and I’m concerned for our retirement income.) Food on the run? We’ll get you through the drive-thru in less than five minutes.

But what about the burdens we’ve been carrying for weeks, for months? Where is the answer?

We want what we want yesterday. Why is it not in our hands now? Why do I have to wait? This year, the message I’ve been getting loud and clear is that, if it is an issue that we have to deal with, Jesus has probably experienced it.

I heard an author/speaker, Lisa Harper, with whom I was unfamiliar at the Charleston Women of Joy conference this year. And what a pleasure to get to know her! I am reading her book, “untamed”, and getting to know the wild side of Jesus. She is one of those people to whom I particularly relate – seemingly slightly irreverent, but not really when you read the whole message. A little rebellious and totally in-your-face honest. She has a refreshing take on scripture and one of her chapters deals with Jesus’ temptation in the desert.

And as I read about it, it occurred to me that His final temptation was right down my alley. I’ve always thought, no big deal. Satan offered Him the world and He refused. Well certainly He did! He knew that He would get it anyway! But let’s break it apart a bit. Take a look at Matthew 4:8-10:

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Jesus knew the end of the story. He knew what He was facing. And here Satan was saying, “Listen, I’ll give it to you now. Just worship me. No death, no suffering, everything you want NOW.”

He knows what it feels like for us to wait – how hard it is when He asks us to just believe that He has it under control. We don’t know the end of the story; we don’t know the answer. But we do know that, even when Jesus knew, He waited. He’s been there and He doesn’t ask us to do anything He hasn’t done Himself.