Vending Machines are designed to give us instant gratification with little payment on our part.

They provide a wide selection of food or products that entice us to purchase what they offer and in return we obtain instant gratification. They are a wonderful invention that can bring happiness in whatever season of life or journey we find ourselves in. The best part about the vending machine experience is that we don’t have to have an emotional, physical, or spiritual attachment of any kind. In other words, it’s a “Love you now; leave you until I need you again” relationship.

This is acceptable for our experience with vending machines, because this is but a temporal product—a machine—of the natural realm. Contrast this to our relationship with Jesus Christ. When we exchange our citizenship from the worldly to spiritual, and we become a follower of Jesus Christ, this requires commitment and holiness.

According to Ephesians 5:11, 13-14, we must give our lives to Christ totally. Anything less than this goes against God’s Holy Word. Let’s read this passage:

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them… But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

~Ephesians 3:11, 13-14 esv

As a believer in the living God, I must choose to live in the light. Living in darkness provides a way for my emotional, physical, and spiritual mindset to use God as a vending machine. Remember what the relationship of a vending machine is. It’s a “Love you now; leave you until I need you again” relationship. So, I need to be careful not to treat God as my personal vending machine.

Because the light of God will expose what is truly in my heart, I must allow Him to cleanse me from the danger of selfish motivation. Luke 6:45 ESV reads, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”  I might be able to fool everyone with my actions and words, but according to the Holy Bible, God already knows by looking into my heart what my true intentions are.

This is why using God as a vending machine will never result in giving us what we truly need. Vending machines give us what we want, while God gives us what we truly need.

Are you going through a challenging situation in your life right now? Is it because you’re trying to fix things through the vending machine method? If so, let’s ask God to create in you a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit within you. I too feel I need to do this from time to time to maintain the intimate relationship I desire to have with God.

The Lord will hear and answer your prayer for holiness. Ezekiel 36: 26 says, And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Let me encourage you with advice from the Word that I speak over my own life. Let’s make this Scripture our prayer:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all you ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

~Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV

Be satisfied with what you have. God said, I will never leave you, and I will never forsake you. Hebrews 13:5b

Father God, I pray for my reader friends, that together we will surrender our lives to Your loving inspection, and that You will help us to walk in obedience to Your Word. When we treat You like a vending machine, remind us that what we really desire to obtain is a relationship with You, the Living God. Amen.

God is waiting for you, my friend, to completely surrender everything to Him, including your life’s ambitions. Remember, eventually the vending machine will malfunction or break down, but God will always be there for you. A vending machine cannot guarantee you that!

Share three words that exemplify your relationship with God.

Heavenly Father, thank You for helping me prioritize my relationship with You.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Copyright ©️2019: In the Darkness of the Vending Machine: Author Ed Chappelle: All Rights Reserved