A society of convenience

I Kings 12:28-30
After seeking advice, the king [King Jeroboam] made two golden calves. He said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship the one there.

How many times have we begun to worship idols out of convenience? We live in a society of convenience. It is driven by convenience. Why do I work out in the basement of my condo instead of working out at school? Convenience. Why do I go grocery shopping at the nearest grocery store over the other? Convenience. Why do I microwave my dinners instead of cooking? Convenience. My life is already dictated a lot, by convenience. We can't seem to afford loss of efficiency these days...

But if we are not careful, convenience will overtake our lives, dictating everything we do, even our morals. Soon even our thinking and rationale is twisted (as illustrated in the verses above)

Firstly, for a people that strongly know their history with oral-based traditions, how can they even begin to think that golden calves brought them out of Egypt? It seems as if convenience has even rewritten history! And what's even more ironic is that last part (that I bolded): the people went AS FAR AS Dan to worship the other calf. Now if Jerusalem was too far, isn't Dan just as far if not further? For some tribes, isn't Jerusalem closer? (look at the map posted on Wikipedia; it's a map that is kept in the library of Congress). Just because it is convenient, we are fooled into thinking that it is better than whatever the other choices were.

Sometimes worshipping God will not be convenient (though we live in the U.S. - that's about as convenient as it gets!). A lot of times it seemingly takes more work and is not as easy. However, I was watching videos on the national geographic website (yes, I'm a nerd through and through) and some were of these religious festivals every year of people all around the world...at one festival, the "priests" of the religion walk 5 miles or so with these painful sharp objects impaled in their face. And supposedly the gods are appeased. And you call that easy worship? You call that more convenient? Must we celebrate pain and suffering over freedom and light? Where is the rationale in that?

May I never be fooled into thinking that just because one way may seem more efficient and easier, that it is better than God's way. Because God always knows best. Regardless of whether I understand that way or not. We have the gift of free will from our Creator. May the root of our motivation/justification for our actions never be, "because it was more convenient." For some reason, I don't think that will fly when judgment day comes...