“I want I want I want it now”.
No, these aren’t the words of Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (see below), but lyrics from the new Black Eyed Peas song “The Now Generation”, off their latest album The E.N.D.
Here’s the context.
This is the now generation
This is the generation now
We are the now generation
I want I want I want it now
I want the cold hard cash
I want I want I want it now
And I just can’t wait
I need it immediately
And I just can’t wait
I want it immediately
Cause time can’t wait and
I sure can’t wait
I ain’t got no patience
I sure can’t wait
It is difficult to know whether the Peas are being ironic here, they may not even be sure themselves. But they certainly seem to be expressing (if not encouraging) our culture’s obsession with immediate gratification.
Impatience is one of the central themes of modern life. We are a restless and hurried people. If you’re not convinced, think of Vodafone’s “Make the most of now” ad campaign. Or think of Twitter. Or how movies made even in the 1980s seem so slow to us today.
We are the “Now Generation”.
Christians aren’t immune to this. We want the quick spiritual fix; the instant conversion; the Kingdom right now. We want the Bible to make sense to us without effort, as though effort isn’t spiritual. But this attitude borrows more from our culture than from Scripture. Time and time again in the Bible, we see God’s people waiting. Abraham waited 25 years for his promised son; Moses waited 40 years for God to deliver his people; Jesus waited 30 years before starting his ministry. And when Jesus finally did start, he encouraged patience in his disciples: the Kingdom starts small he said, it takes time to grow – like a mustard seed.
Patience and faith go together. The word for patience in the Hebrew of the Old Testament carried the sense of remaining steadfast in the face of enemies; not passively, but believing in the promise of God’s deliverance. Interestingly, the more impressed our culture has become with human capabilities – the less reliant on God, that is – the more impatient we have become.
“How long, O Lord?” is a common cry of God’s people in Scripture. Being patient doesn’t mean we don’t long for change, for God’s kingdom to come. But it does mean we are willing to wait, not grasping at the hollow promises of instant gratification, but trusting God’s goodness and timing. The Peas’s “I sure can’t wait” becomes, “Come, Lord Jesus”.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zf4MIBSnGc]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU7nG3KvZDA]
