Hi, this is Joni Eareckson Tada and thank you for joining me today on "Joni and Friends"…
And I must tell you, when I am talking to you – as I am right now – I just cannot “do it” without picturing me next to you or at least near you. Like… having a cup of coffee together (you’d have to help me with my cup, though, but that’s okay; you’d do fine). Because I love coffee! Now I'm not into international coffees or French vanilla or the mocha latte kind of coffee. I just like… I like it plain. I like it robust, I like it roasted – with no sugar, just milk, thank you.
The other week I was traveling and I was heading out the hotel lobby for the airport. And I passed a little table by the front desk and on it, the hotel had placed a pot of coffee with powdered creamers next to some Styrofoam cups. I smelled the aroma and I was tempted… almost tempted to ask my friend to pour a cup on my way out, but then I remembered it probably had been sitting there for a few hours. Look, I’ve had that stuff – usually, it gets poured out in the bushes by the parking lot as I go off to the airport.
Ah, but if I know there is a gourmet coffee kiosk at the airport… serving up something freshly ground. Ooh, then I pass by that little table in the hotel lobby. I can wait a half an hour. It’ll pay off. Why? Because I know that fresh brewed pot at the airport is good stuff; it’s higher quality. So I do not mind putting pleasure on hold... I do it in anticipation of something a whole lot better at the airport.
Actually, this whole thing about putting pleasure on hold is not only a principle of self-control as it concerns coffee or food. It is the way a Christian who is focused on heaven should live. Psalm 38 is like so many Psalms in the Bible, because it says, "I wait, I wait for you, O Lord, you will answer, O Lord my God."
To wait on the Lord doesn't mean hanging around, doing nothing. To wait on the Lord means to say “no” to impulsive, spur-of-the-moment decisions or actions... and so by doing, you are saying “yes” to something you know will satisfy you a whole lot better on down the line -- like that cup of great coffee at the airport. People who have not learned how to wait on the Lord, are people who tend to indulge in the stuff right-now; something immediate that only half satisfies.(Okay, okay, I lump myself in that group -- yesterday in the deli at my supermarket; when the guy behind the counter asked if I wanted to try a spoonful of the macaroni and cheese... I hardly said no; I mean, I can be pretty impulsive when it comes to mac ‘n cheese).
But, seriously, when it comes to tougher issues – moral, ethical obligations -- Christians who have fostered self-control do not mind putting pleasure on hold. ’Cause we know there’s something better on heaven’s horizon. And this is why I am able to be content in my wheelchair. Actually, I am in the enviable position of having no choice but to put pleasure on hold. For me, Heaven is worth waiting for. And for you, God is worth waiting for. His grace, His favor… His reward… it’s all worth waiting for. So today, I am asking you to join me in saying "no" to impulsive, selfish (and that means) sinful decisions and actions. And instead, wait on the Lord. Today, believe for what He has planned for you. It’s so much better than what you could ever quick grab for yourself right now. Because remember, something better is brewing down the line. Speaking of which, something worth waiting for and listening to is coming up next from my friends right here on this fine station. This is Joni Eareckson Tada, and you've been listening to “Joni and Friends.”
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