Matt Chandler - Suffering, Comfort

It seems that all the creativity of mankind and all the energy we possess have become hyper-focused in our day and age on eradicating any need for patience from the face of the earth. I mean, we are hell-bent on ensuring we never have to wait for anything. If you think about it, the way to help me understand this is by considering the world that my six-year-old daughter is growing up in. Okay, that’s my youngest; she just turned six on May 29th. When I was her age, we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, and my parents, both of whom were from Missouri—pronounced Missou-ree—lived around a lake in the sticks of Missouri called Lake Pomme de Terre. Every summer, my father would rent a pop-up camper, put it on the back of our car, and we would drive from San Francisco to Missouri. Let me tell you what we did in the car, you ready? We looked out the window and played «I Spy,» which is not easy at seventy miles per hour, especially during a three-day trip inside the same vehicle. We just kind of ran out of options. Then we would color, and we would pester my dad until violence entered the equation, asking, «Are we there yet? Are we there yet?» We knew we weren’t there yet, but what else could we do? We had been in the car for three days! After that, we would stare out the window again and then ask if we were there, then color a picture, then play «I Spy,» and then stare out the window again.

Now, every year my family takes a six-hour trek from Dallas up to Missouri—because that’s how you say that word—and we drive to a family camp at Kanakuk right outside of Branson. It’s called K-Kauai; my kids love it, and it’s my favorite thing we do as a family every summer. Six hours. My six-year-old watches movies and plays video games on one of our devices, and she doesn’t ask if we’re there yet. Instead, she has the audacity to complain about being bored. So then I become the very thing I swore to God I would never become: my father. I turn around and try to convince her of how hard I had it. Back then, we didn’t have air conditioning; we just had to sleep on the side of the road and hope nobody killed us! I mean, I’m saying, «Tamiya, listen. I stared out the window for three days while you’re watching three movies and playing video games—spare me your boredom! Shut the TV!» Everything has been handed to you; you don’t need patience anymore.

Yet there’s this ironic thing happening: the more we make the world faster and easier, the more perpetually impatient we actually are. If you think about it, things are faster than ever. You want movies? Livestream on any device you have. I can remember, in my lifetime, having conversations at dinner that had no resolution. Here’s what I mean: in the last ten years of human existence, we’ve been able to sit at dinner with friends and say, «Hey, who was that third baseman for the Dodgers in the '90s?» and actually get an answer! Before the last ten years, you just had to hope you would remember or find someone who knew the answer; you couldn’t just pull something up and, in a matter of seconds, find the answer. That’s brand new; it’s never existed before in the history of mankind. And yet, we remain perpetually aggravated. How many of you have yelled at a device in the last month? Anyone yelled at their screen? Yeah, doesn’t that make you feel crazy? Just think about how crazy that is. Everything has gotten faster and easier, and it’s only served to frustrate us. We find ourselves lacking patience in a day and age where everything is built for ease, speed, and comfort. Even riding a roller coaster now, for a few extra bucks, you can get a fast pass, register, show up, and make everyone who has been sweating to death in line for two hours despise you as you just walk up and hop on. Everything is built for speed; everything is built for convenience—you don’t have to wait!

Let’s create another line at fast food! Any type of creative technological brilliance we possess is hyper-focused not just on curing diseases but on eliminating the need to wait, and it hasn’t been good for our souls. See, the Lord values patience in His children, not just so we don’t yell at our screens, scream at our spouses, or snap at our children. Because when we think of patience, that’s almost always the domain we’re thinking about. We think, «I lose patience so easily with my spouse, with my kids, when I’m driving.» We reflect on those surface-level areas where patience is necessary, and I do think God cares about those things and speaks into them. But God is serious about patience because persevering faith and gladness in God require it. Persevering, glad-hearted faith in God demands patience. I want to try to explain that via James 5:7-12. Here’s the outline of the…