I’m convinced the DVR and its ability to record sporting events is one of the greatest inventions ever made! Of course, I love to watch sports live, but when life gets busy and I have priorities as a husband and father, watching at a more convenient time is crucial. Especially throughout March Madness and the NBA Playoffs, the DVR allows me to watch important games at a different time than scheduled. There are too many games to watch live! Another benefit to recording games is fast-forwarding during commercials, instant replays, plays under review, and other delays throughout the game. This saves me time and I’m able to get to the parts I want to see. Although it’s nice to speed up during the annoying commercials, skip through refs reviewing their calls, and rush past players standing around, we are taking shortcuts and not embracing the entire experience of watching a game. By being impatient and skipping parts, we miss out on the build-up, anticipation, flow of the game, excitement in the uncertainty, and time in between plays to analyze what just happened. We hit the fast-forward button to get to the outcome as quickly as possible, but miss out on fully enjoying the entire process. Honestly, thinking about this won’t prevent me from leveraging the DVR and avoiding commercials, but the parallel to other areas of life is convicting. The reality is, that we can’t fast-forward through painful situations or skip every annoying aspect of our day, but what if we didn’t try to rush through every uncomfortable or difficult situation? What if we stopped trying to speed through our challenges and prevented our impatience from leading to shortcuts? Instead of just trying to get to the good stuff, what if we soaked in each moment throughout the process? As followers of Jesus, we may wish to hit fast-forward on this life so we can move onto heaven for eternity, but God has us here in this moment for a purpose and we’re in the middle of His process and plan. So, when challenges, pain, and trials come our way, is our reaction to look for shortcuts and try to skip the struggle…or do we embrace the journey? Instead of rushing, do we take time to analyze, unpack, and hear what God is revealing to us? Do we find excitement in the uncertainty because we know God is doing something good in us and through us…or do we look for ways to get to the outcome as soon as possible? The good news is, that God is with us each step of the way and as we trust Him to get us through something, we can remain patient because we know He’s not going to rush the work being done in our hearts that ultimately helps us grow. Here is the process that takes place: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love” (Romans 5:3-5; NLT). Today, as nice as the fast-forward button would be in life, let’s embrace and even rejoice in every aspect of our journey that involves endurance, strengthened character, and confident hope. Even when we want to, we can’t always skip the hard parts or run to see the outcome, but as David writes in Psalm 23:4 (AMP), “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff , they comfort and console me” (emphasis my own). I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank You for the pain and challenges I’ve gone through that developed my character, deepened my faith, and gave me confident hope in You. I pray I wouldn’t be so eager to rush the process or try and skip discomfort because I know it’s all part of my journey and growth as a maturing believer of Jesus. It’s in His name I pray, Amen.
Discussion Questions for PACKS:
What challenges have you faced that you tried to skip or speed up the process, but are glad you didn’t?
In what ways is God developing your character right now?
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