“We live in a disposable society. It’s easier to throw things out than to fix them. We even give it a name – we call it recycling.”
Neil LaBute

Coffee cups, paper towels, plastic bags and bottles, glass, aluminum, diapers, medical waste. The list of things we use once and throw away goes on and on. The discussion over costs, both finance and health, continues as we attempt to find solutions to living well today without sacrificing tomorrow. Often, the discussion gets heated, and divides along political lines, as we try to figure out how much money is being spent or saved, and by whom.

But lost in the discussion over disposable “things” are even greater societal issues. At what point does our attitude toward the things in our lives spill over into other areas? What about ideas? What about people? What about God? Too great a leap? I don’t think so. At its core, our problems in a disposable society are both selfishness and a failure to count the cost. While it’s easy to see the link between, say, disposing of motor oil in a river or ocean, the disastrous effects on living things, and our access to clean drinking water, the consequences of our willingness to throw away relationships with each other and with God often fail to catch our attention.

 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
Luke 14:28 ESV

Let’s face it, commitment can be a hard sell. Saving, or giving, when it would be more fun to spend, staying when it would be easier to go, waiting on God and seeking wise counsel when you’d rather go with your “feelings.” These are all hallmarks of mature Christians choosing to live for God instead of themselves in a disposable society.

“When confronted with a challenge the committed heart will search for a solution. The undecided heart searches for an escape.”
Andy Andrews

Whether they can articulate it or not, every human being, from the homeless 30-year-old looking like he’s 50 to the outwardly successful corporate executive, is looking for something real and permanent, something beyond the easy fix or shiny car. It’s easy to become jaded in a world that constantly promises a better life for easy payments but never really delivers. Jesus does not promise us an easy road, but guarantees help in this life and eternity with Him in the next. If He died to redeem us, He must have known our true value. I am who God says I am. I am redeemed.

“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”
Isaiah 44:22 NIV

God
the great magician
author of us all
tender musician
though we were broken
fearful
feeling only fit for disposal
you bought us
and brought us
from the brink
to redemption.

©Joel Tipple 1/12/2020