After washing my hands, I reached over and waved my hand under the paper towel dispenser. It didn’t turn on so I did it again. And again. I probably waved by hand back and forth three or four times before I realized that it was not an automatic dispenser.
As I reached up to manually grab my brown paper towel, I became very frustrated at the fact that I had to exert the energy to do so. My magnificent public restroom experience had been ruined in an instant when I had to go out of my way to do something for myself. And that, my friends, is when I realized that there is no hope for this world.
With automated sinks and hand dryers, Hot-N-Ready pizzas, GPS navigation, and an app for everything, we are so spoiled. It is like we have completely forgotten how to do anything for ourselves. Compared to even 10-15 years ago, the amount of effort required for us to get what we want has basically bottomed out.
Even more unfortunately, we are letting this automated attitude bleed over into our spiritual lives. We’ve stopped taking our Bibles to church because the words are on the projector screen. Some people don’t tithe regularly because their church does not accept debit cards. Others refuse to attend or decide to leave a church if they are not made the center of attention on their own terms.
It’s like we want to get the benefit of being a part of a church family without having to invest ourselves in the community of the church. We want people to reach out and make things easier for us when we aren’t willing to do the same for others. We want to automatically be blessed without putting forth the effort to produce fruit of our own.
Let’s do each other a favor. What do you say we all spend a day away from our gadgets that make life so convenient? What if we took some time to take the manual route to remember what it feels like to actually invest in something? Perhaps if we do this more in the monotony of our day-to-day lives then it will come more natural when we fill our roles in the body of Christ.
Let’s all invest ourselves in something this week. I will start by getting my own paper towel. Join me, will you?