We truly live in an age of the disposable. We have disposable razors, pens, watches, diapers, baby bottles, drink containers, etc, etc, etc,. Maybe it's because of our fast paced society or maybe it's due to laziness, but one thing is for sure never before has a generation of people lived in such wastefulness for convenience sake.

    In our modem age there have been many inventions that have contributed to making life a little easier. We have indoor plumbing, electricity, heat-pumps and a lot of other niceties. With the invention of plastics has come an explosion of items replacing the old wood and metal dinosaurs. Who would have imagined thirty years ago that we would be concerned about real plastic guns being smuggled through metal detectors in airports? Or, what grandmother could imagine disposable diapers, while she went about the unpleasurable chore of rinsing out the mess in the old cloth dinosaurs Or, a plastic $9.99 watch that when it stops working you just toss it in the garbage? Yes, great steps have been made in a lot of areas, but has it been for the best? I'm not speaking of the many problems that plague our generation concerning the storage of this enormous amount of waste, nor am I speaking of the one day loss of resources, due to our poor management. I'm talking about the problem of our "disposable lifestyle".

    This attitude is not only prevalent in the way we treat the material things we possess, but the lifestyles we live, as well. I know our forefathers would shudder to hear of disposable pregnancies, disposable children and disposable marriages, and yet this is characteristic of our generation today. We need to understand that not all things are disposable!

Disposable Pregnancies
 
    Our court system today is faced with the dilemma of choosing whether a woman has the right to terminate her pregnancy or that she has no right to take the life of the child within her womb. Can we not see the attitude of those who express their selfishness and intolerance to anything that inconveniences their life? this is what the issue is really about, selfishness. Although man debates the legal nature of the right of abortion, it is really a moral issue. The only solution to this problem is to change the morality of mankind and then will come the legal change.

    Does a woman have the right to choose what is best for her? Absolutely! But does she have the right to make that decision to the detriment of another? Can she destroy another life, given of God, to convenience her lifestyle? If so, then why can she not destroy her living children? Or, does she have the right to put her elderly parents to death because they inconvenience her lifestyle? These are important questions because; if the morality of our generation is not changed, the legality of the issues will certainly press upon the next generation and you could be the elderly inconvenience.

    Children are the gift of God and the destruction of them in the womb, or outside the womb is murder. How can a people find God's favor when they live in such a disposable age? (Ezek. 16:20-22; Job 31:15)

Disposable Children

    This also is a plague of our generation. More and more women are choosing a career above family interest. Because children inconvenience the two-career family, children become disposable. Selfishly we seek what is desired by us, rather than unselfishly serving the family's interest. We seek to fulfill our ambitions and quickly send children off to "facilities" to care for them. Often overlooked, uncared for, and sometimes abused, they long for "Mommy", but Mommy has disposed of them while she seeks selfgratification in the market place. How can we possibly think that someone will do for pay what we will not do out of
love? (Read Tit. 2:3-5; 1 Tim. 2:8-15; Eph. 6:4)

Disposable Marriages

    "I'll try it for a while and if it doesn't work I'll get out," seems to be the norm for this disposable generation. Marriage is no longer a sacred thing, or viewed with commitment. It has become a disposable relationship to some. I would that many young couples could have witnessed what I did a few weeks ago. I guarantee that it would have made your marriage relationship better. I witnessed a wedded couple of 62 years embrace each other over a hospital bed thinking any time might be their last time together. What I saw was truly genuine love. It wasn't the passionate sexual love that is so overly emphasized in our age, but the passion of a loving relationship of unselfish service unto each other. This is what sustained their marriage for 62 years and not infatuation. I doubt that divorce ever was even thought of, much less considered as an alternative to them. Problems? I'm sure they experienced many, but with a commitment to resolve, rather than run from them. Only when we view marriage with commitment can we make it last. God intended that marriage be a lifetime commitment. (Read Mt. 19:3-12; 1 Cor. 7:11; Rom. 7:23)

May God Almighty help us in this age of the disposable!!!