Think about how often we take advantage of convenient stores; Wawa, Seven Eleven, and yes the most convenient of convenience, Swiss Farms where you can drive though. These stores just make our lives a little easier. Need sandwich, no problem. Milk, sure. Slurpee, done. All these things under one roof!
Living overseas for a period of time I realized just how convenient our lives are here in the good ol'USA. Heck the best supermarket in the UK, Tescos, barely has a greater variety of items that a Wawa might have. Wegmans would blow the mind of most Britons, heck I am often amazed at how much stuff Wegmans has. To be honest the most difficult transition to living overseas was the lack of convenience I found.
In the United States we value convenience. We want everything at our fingertips and preferably with as little movement as possible. In my travels I think this desire for convenience really sets us apart from other cultures, even from those closest to resembling ours like Europe and Canada. But I wonder what this desire for convenience has gotten us?
Look at the news, we have a real problem with gun violence and the natural courses of action will be largely fought off by the NRA because such actions would inconvenience gun owners. The vile evil of human trafficking is largely fueled by our desire for convenience, and cheap products. Businesses turn a blind eye to partners that might be using slave labor, just to save a buck. Even such businesses that are seen as being active in the social justice sphere, like Trader Joes and Chipotle, were slow to act to protect migrant farm workers. Pornography is a booming industry, largely because of the sex slave trade, a trade that supplies "cheap" laborers for prostitution and movies. Our desire for convenience, our desire to for having cheap products which are easy to attain comes at a cost.
Yet convenience is not a word that Jesus uses, he challenges us to live lives without convenience. Recall that we are challenged to not just invite our friends to dinner, thereby expecting a return invitation, but to invite those who we can expect very little from, our enemies or even strangers. What is convenient about plucking out our eyes if they lead us into sin, for it is better for us to lose our eyesight than our salvation? But in all reality, what about the Cross speaks to convenience? Was it convenient for God to have to watch his only son die in torture? Was it convenient for Christ to suffer a horrible death so that we can have life anew?
If we are to truly live in Christ, we must take the time to find out how our lives are impacting others around us and the world. Perhaps there is a better grocery store to buy our groceries, maybe a line of clothing might not meet the standard of caring for others. But that involves us asking questions and taking time to research, two things that we find inconvenient. It will not be easy, but literally lives depend upon us to live faithfully and not conventiently.
For starters check out the following websites related to products made by slave labor:
Then explore your life to see what conveniences you would be willing to give up in order to insure that all have the right to life and the pursuit of joy.
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