SUNDAY DEVOTION: Convenience

Some things are worth getting up for

Yesterday at the caucus I heard two contradictory opinions about the process of voting. One person was very excited for one day, one vote. Since the caucus had no provision for early or absentee voting, it was a throwback to an older way of doing things. On the other hand, another person lamented the system, saying they preferred the convenience of voting by mail.

It got me wondering if life has become too convenient today. Even just a century ago, our ancestors had to work hard just to survive. Something so simple today as the laundry was a long and arduous process. Now we can do most everything from the comfort of our homes and smartphones, while computers and automation take care of what was once hard work. If we can book plane tickets, order lunch, and do our taxes from our couch, why should voting be any harder?

Is this a good thing? Is there a spiritual or emotional tradeoff for this modern life of convenience? I suggest that humanity has been losing parts of itself over the centuries. We have created a world that is shielded from both the natural and the supernatural. I say this in full awareness that I am ensnared in this world too. I am typing this on a computer with wall to wall screens as music plays in the background. Snow falls outside my walls and windows while I sit in a comfortable chair fully insulated from the natural elements.

The more technology advances, the more disconnected we become from what makes us human.

“They’re the same picture.”

While some conveniences are nice, I don’t think life is meant to be too convenient. This subject brought to mind Christ’s parable of the wedding feast from Matthew chapter 22, which while not a direct analogue, is an interesting perspective:

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Matthew 22:1-14 ESV

There are two instances in that parable where people are asked to do inconvenient things. In the first case, the subjects of the kingdom were invited to a feast, and all they had to do was show up. But they preferred to go about their lives instead. Perhaps they had to work, or the feast was scheduled at an inconvenient time.

The second instance is where the rabble were invited to the feast in place of those who were originally chosen, but one didn’t come prepared. Perhaps he didn’t own a wedding garment, or couldn’t be bothered to find one. Whatever reasons or excuses he might have had, he paid the price in the end.

The modern world incentivizes inactivity and passivity, but you and I were made for action. God has given each of us a mission, and no matter what that mission is we should strive to carry it out.

None of us have a choice about whether or not we want to live in the modern world — it is what it is — but we can choose a bias for action. Let’s go get things done.