daily java

Daily Java:

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

Delayed gratification is the word. Putting something off so that it can be better later.

That is why we go to college. We are broke for a while and all, but we know (or at least hope) that our preparation time now will produce something far better in the future. If we go to college now, we will get a better job and make more money and such.

It doesn’t always work, of course. In my own case, college was almost worthless and it took forever to pay back the student loans.

But in general, it works. Layaway is a perfect example of delayed gratification. You could buy a much cheaper item now for less, or you could put a much nicer item in layaway, pay for it over a period of time and then you would own it outright. Layaway, in general, is a great idea.

The problem is, we are not a society that likes to put things off. We want them now. All you have to do is look at our present credit crisis and see that. People have charged so much on their credit cards that they cannot afford to pay it all off.

I read an article a few years ago about so many “renting a lifestyle.” These people had good jobs that paid a lot. However, they were buying a house on time, two or three cars on time, the insurance for the cars, the credit cards, all the stuff they had.

The renting part came in the fact that if they were to lose their jobs today, in a short time, they would no longer be able to keep up that lifestyle.

In other words, they didn’t own the house or cars or anything else. They were really just renting them. As long as they could keep up the payments, they were fine. But if they ever got to where they couldn’t, they were through.

I have one friend that faced that problem. After the loss of the major job in their family, and the inability to find another, they burned through savings and now live in a borrowed house.

Not sure what to do about it. You need a house and unless you want to rent or have the money on hand, you have to buy on time. The same with a car.

But that delayed gratification is true and is a good thing. The apostle Paul says here that we delay our gratification in that we live here on this earth and do what we can in service to the Lord. Bad things happen and problems come, but we are looking toward something far better: a home in heaven.

And that is so far greater than this that it is almost unimaginable.

He says that these things will one day be gone, so it is worthless to put all our trust and store in them. The money will be gone, our youth and strength will be gone, life will be gone. So why work so hard on it all when there is something better waiting.

It is a fact that if there was nothing better waiting for me at the end of life, I would be in despair. The old song says, “Is that all there is?” if this is all there is, this would be a pathetic place indeed.

But there is a glory waiting that is so much greater than anything here. And we look toward it.