A Replacement Society

We're all about replacements these days.  We wear disposable, replaceable contacts.  It's almost cheaper  to buy a brand new appliance or gadget than it is to repair the broken one.  Many play video games that when your "person" gets beat/destroyed, you just press restart and the "person" is back again.  A life can be replaced on a game.  And sadly, when our personal relationships don't work out or aren't going as well as we had hoped, we can ditch that person and go find another one......everyone can be replaced.

How did we get here?  What has happened in our world making us be a "replacement society"?

I believe part of the problem is that we want everything right NOW.  We want things in a HURRY.  We don't want to wait.  We want things our way, when we want it, and we expect instant gratification without any problems or conflicts along the way.  If it deals with technology, it is changing at such a rapid speed that when we buy something.....it's already being replaced on the shelves with something newer and better in a short amount of time.  We want the best.....the quickest......the "smartest"......the latest.......the coolest......etc.

Another thing is that many items we use in life aren't made as well now as they once were.  Now it is possible that you'll spend quite a bit of money and time fixing something, that won't cost much more to just go ahead and purchase it brand new - again and again and again.  It's just easier to throw out the broken and buy again brand new.

While it may be okay to replace gadgets, personal items, and home decor, it's not okay to replace people.  The friends and family we have should be regarded as special and non-replaceable.  Our spouses shouldn't be thought of with a "if this doesn't work out, I'll move on to someone else".  That isn't what God intended our relationships to be.  Relationships were meant to last.  There is a sense of loyalty and love that outlasts the conflict and crises  that may appear for a while.

Imagine if God replaced you and I!  Imagine that if you and I messed up, that God said, "I'm done with you! I'll find someone else to love!"  He would never do that.  He could never do that.  He loves us so much!

Fixing things that are broken is hard to do some times.  It's not worth the effort.  Fixing broken relationships IS worth it.  YOU are worth it and the other person is worth it.  Don't replace people.  Fix the brokenness.  Maybe it's in you.  Maybe it's in the other person.  But the relationship is worth it.  God will help heal the broken relationships.

Another way we live in a replacement society, is that we may try to replace God and Jesus with something on earth.  It just won't work.  Nothing else and no one else but God will love us unconditionally.  Nothing else and no one else buy Jesus gave His life for you - so that you might be saved and live eternity in Heaven.  That promise of Heaven gives a hope that nothing else in this earthly world can give.  It will give you the joy that can not be taken away.  It will give you a peace that nothing can destroy.  In our spiritual lives, there is no place for "replacement" thinking.  And for that, we can be thankful.

 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18