***We live in a world where it’s all about speed. People are always looking for the fastest way to travel or the fastest way to complete a task. They look for the fastest way to make money or the fastest way to get rid of something or someone they no longer want in our lives. In fact, they disconnect from people very quickly at almost the first sign of disagreement or conflict. They try to find the fastest way to gain a college degree or the fastest way to get a promotion on their jobs.
In our world, we try to gain knowledge and wisdom through quick sound bites, Facebook postings, twitter statements, 60 second commercials, or 30 minute TV programs. If our interest is not captured within two minutes, we push a button, click a mouse, or tap a screen to move on to the next interesting thing. If it takes too long for someone to explain something, we quickly delete them and move on.
Interestingly enough, we carry this same thinking into the church. We seek the fastest way to gain a position in a ministry or the fastest way to grow a big church. We look for the fastest way to get through trials and troubles and demand that pastors and biblical instructors hurry up and get to the point. After all, we don’t feel that we really need all of that biblical background and historical context.
We want them to just rush to the parts where the Bible text or the pastor’s sermon is exciting. We want our Bible teachers to hurry up and get to the 5 things we need to know to become a millionaire. Let’s get to the 10 things we need to know to marry the right person. Let’s get to the 7 habits of highly successful people.
One thing we have learned, as students and teachers of God’s word, is that if we truly want to know fulfillment in life, then we must obtain Godly knowledge and wisdom. But if we want the knowledge and wisdom of God, it’s going to take time. God is in no hurry at all. He will let us run around for months and years until we wear out and finally come to Him and sit down.
The past 40 years of modern Christian teaching has done a lot to promote a pattern of skipping key principles and steps to gain personal breakthrough in our lives. Countless well-known and well-meaning ministers have pushed the mindset of quick fixes and fast turn-around blessings in gaining victory in this life. They present a testimony of someone who gave $100 on Sunday and gained $10,000 by Thursday. This daily, weekly, monthly and annual barrage of skewed teaching has left a whole generation of Believers abandoning the true principles of the Bible and seeking God purely for personal benefits through Christian get-rich-quick schemes.
However, God will always raise up leaders to put things back in balance. That’s what we seek to provide for the Urban Life family; BALANCE. There is no fast track to maturity and victory. It takes 36-40 weeks for an unborn baby to become mature enough for a healthy birth. It takes several years for that baby to grow and become an adult. There is no way to speed up that process.
Even though we live in a fast-paced generation, it still takes 60 seconds to make a minute, 60 minutes to make an hour, 24 hours to make a day, 7 days to make a week, and 52 weeks to make a year. There is no shortcut. This journey with the Lord is a marathon, not a sprint. We have to learn God’s pace in a fast world.
That means we can't explain these great mysteries of God in brief postings or tweets. We have to take the time to walk our church family through the Holy Scriptures; trying to accurately explain what we are reading. It is extremely important for us to take the time to explore some of the historical and cultural backgrounds in biblical teaching so that the Holy Spirit can impart greater understanding and meaning to the listeners.
Even in our internet church outreach, the reason we post the short video clips is to stir the appetites of our viewers to desire more teaching. After a while, everyone should come to the place where they realize, they cannot live a consistent victorious Christian life on a diet of quick snippets of Bible teaching and emotionally charged sermons that provide no substance.
In our weekly prayer gathering, we are calling this the Year of the Open Door. We encourage everyone to come through the open tent entrance and begin to engage the Word of God and the God of the Word at a deeper level. Your personal growth won’t be instantaneous and your understanding may not be fast, but it will be steady and strong.
Isaiah 28:10, 12 says----
10 For it is [His prophets repeating over and over]: precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, rule upon rule; here a little, there a little.
12 To these [complaining Jews the Lord] had said, This is the true rest [the way to true comfort and happiness] that you shall give to the weary, and, This is the [true] refreshing—yet they would not listen [to His teaching].
In other words, if we want to see Godly results, we have to receive God's Word, God's way, at God's pace.
