Matthew 7:7-8, New Living Translation

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Our world is in the process of turning into an instant gratification society. The pastor of our church recently remarked about how the average attention span of people, particularly those who are connected to the internet, has decreased from nearly 15 minutes to only a matter of seconds in the past several decades. The reality is people are becoming less and less patient, and at the same time losing their passion and tenacity to pursue something of true value.

The Bible tells us that the Lord is good to those who wait for Him. And, in our primary verse for today, we see that those who seek the Lord with passion and tenacity will find Him. However, our world today would tell us a very different story. For most people, if an internet page takes more than a few seconds to load, they become frustrated and begin to complain and if a few more seconds pass, they simply give up and try another one. This process and this expectation carry over to other areas of life for many people. When they see that they are not getting the outcome from their career, a relationship, a church, or a possession, they get frustrated, hit the “delete” button on whatever it is, then try a new one.

How did this happen? How did so many in our society, particular the younger generations, come to this point of impatience and slothfulness? I believe that it is because so much of our society is focused upon self-gratification. “Find whatever makes you happy” is a slogan that comes to mind and that same message came to be found in so many aspects of our society. There is such a self-centered focus that I believe many people may not even think that it would be foolish to put anything other than themselves at the center of their lives.

Jesus directly told us the way that we should structure our lives. He said that we are to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. These are the two great commands that we have. Neither of them mentions self-gratification or self-focus. When we take our focus off of ourselves and begin to place our focus upon the Lord, upon what His desires are, and also upon the needs of the people around us, we will begin to find that it is not about having our needs met immediately. We will begin to desire more and more of who He is and will begin to develop a passion to do more and more of what He wants us to do. When we are loving the Lord and passionately doing the things that He wants us to do—that is truly living!