Anyone out there in the blogosphere besides me who remembers Dial-Up Modems? It was the way, and for a season, the ONLY way to connect to the Wacky World Web. The first thing you had to do was make sure no one was using the telephone–or have a separate telephone line just for the Internet. Then through your computer speaker you heard all these weird noises–sounded like R2D2 was somewhere between having a conniption and a total meltdown. Then you waited and waited some more until it said you were connected. And then you went to a website and waited some more. As frustrating as that was, there were no other options at the time. But then came DSL, and finally fiber optic. Why all this rambling about how to connect to the internet? Glad you asked.
There are a lot of people living a Dial-Up Modem Life in a Fiber Optic World. They wait and wait for something they think will satisfy their life. And the waiting time becomes so frustrating that they look somewhere else; only to find that annoying circle spinning and spinning–yet producing nothing. And like Solomon discovered the hard way (Read the book of Ecclesiastes), life is just an empty and vicious cycle of nothingness.
This got me to thinking about that story of the rich young man (Matthew 19:16-22) who was worn out from the Dial-Up Modem Life and heard Jesus was nearby. So he ran to Jesus and asked Him, “What’s the fastest way to connect with the life that satisfies my heart and mind?” With great wisdom, Jesus first suggested doing the things he had already been doing. Why suggest doing what he had already been doing? Because this young man needed to admit that what he had been doing–the Dial-Up Modem Life–wasn’t working.
The young man already knew it wasn’t working–but he needed to admit it wasn’t working–and that he was willing and ready to walk away from that Dial-Up Modem life. Then Jesus told him about the Fiber Optic Life–a life where we will be set free from that vicious spinning circle. All he had to do was give that life up and embrace a new life that has unlimited potential–and will satisfy the hunger of the heart.
So this young man immediately said, “Where do I sign-up?” WRONG! He was hungry for so much more–yet he was unwilling to disconnect from his old life. And he went away so sad–only to keep hearing those annoying noises and frustrating circles. So, what are you holding onto so tightly that it is causing your life to just spin and spin and spin in a vicious circle? Surely it can’t be more important than living the life God created you to experience? You can watch that spinning circle–OR–you can follow Jesus!
Kingdom Pastor 