A Push-Button World

My brother-in-law (Jan’s older brother) passed away last week from a malfunctioning pancreas.  He was 64.  The good news is that he joins his sister in a kingdom of eternal peace and joy. 

While at the graveside, I shared with the family about the world we live in.  I think of it as a ‘push-button’ world.  With the push of a button, click of a switch, or turn of a knob we can set our temperature preference, determine our food choice, and dial up personalized entertainment.  We can shop online, get our news online, even choose friends online.  The average American house has doubled in size since I was a child.  We have more comforts and conveniences today than ever before.

Yet we don’t have to go far or dig deep to discover that it’s all a shaky facade.  People are still stressed, lonely, confused, hurting, and fearful.  There are no buttons to push that can take away the pain of a broken relationship, a moral failure, a financial hardship, a bad choice, or an uncertain future.  The need for a Savior is just as real today as it was two thousand years ago.

Now that I’ve finished my first full month back in the U.S., I’m still learning which buttons to push.  When I checked in recently for a plane flight, I think I was the only one who had a paper boarding pass.  Everyone else was sliding their cell phone across some magic screen!  But as I travel to churches in my 18 year old Buick wearing winter clothes I bought 20 years ago (I just don’t get to wear winter clothes very often), I see that the biggest challenge we face is not stopping nuclear weapons, growing the economy, or controlling congress, but helping others break their dependence on comforts and conveniences in order for them to see their need for Jesus - the peace and joy giver.

My activities this past month have included speaking in a few places, communicating with friends and co-workers in the Philippines, helping Jonathan move into a new apartment, babysitting my granddaughter, working on some family projects, and figuring out how to use Google Maps for driving (more buttons to push).  But the need for Biblical solutions for life and a growing relationship with the King of Kings is just as urgent here in the U.S. as it is in the Philippines.  That mean all of us who call on the name of the Lord are missionaries commissioned with the same task of evangelizing the lost and discipling the saved.  There’s no greater task.