Why You Should Make Your Bed
One question my mother could never answer to my satisfaction as I was growing up was the doggedly logical non-sequitur: "Why should I make my bed when I'm going to sleep in it again in a few hours?"
My mother would offer the usual stock answers. "Because it looks better." "It cultivates the habit of tidiness," and, when all else failed, "BECAUSE I SAID SO!"
I never bought those reasons. Until I grew up, moved out of home, and had messy housemates who never made their bed. Then, I finally realized how aesthetically unpleasing an unmade bed is. An eyesore.
Nowadays, I make my bed. But I still can't provide a satisfactory explanation as to why I do it. (I suspect I will encounter some resistance in convincing my future children to do so everyday.) After all, it arguably makes perfect sense: why should I make a bed that is only going to get messed up again?
Why do good, when you're not appreciated?
Why do the right thing, when you can get away with stretching the rules?
Why practice complete abstinence, when testing the limits seems way more alluring?
This series of questions actually stems from one core concern which preoccupies our human egos: Would it make any difference if I obeyed God rather than my own desires?
The short answer to this is, believe it or not, yes.
Solomon, after a lifetime in pursuit of every pleasure under the sun, testified that it was never enough. No matter how hard he strove to enjoy himself, he never felt fully satisfied. For all his wealth, fame, and wisdom, he still had an unsatiable longing, an unexplainable emptiness, an unfillable void. Finally, he concluded that it was all vanity! In other words, having your own way all the time isn't actually what you want.
Let's analyze this. If Solomon and many other people are right, doing what we want and ignoring God isn't wonderful after all! It may provide instant gratification, but it just as instantly fizzles out. Like a pat of butter evaporating in an overheated pan. It's gone the next second, and you're left wanting more. An endless cycle. We finally find that no hobby, habit, achievement, or person can fulfil our every need.
The simple reason for this? That which is created by our own hands cannot provide the satisfaction we need. Only God who is our creator can satisfy us fully. I mean, it makes sense, right? He made us, of course He knows best how to satisfy us! Besides, He wants to satisfy us. He has so many good gifts in store for us, and obedience is the key that unlocks access to complete satisfaction in God.
That's why obeying God by doing the right thing is its own reward. Obeying God (sometimes a difficult decision to make) grants us a deep sense of fulfilment. It satisfies our spiritual desire to please God -we were created for Him- and accomplishes our purpose. In other words, it gives meaning to otherwise pointless lives dedicated to futile pursuits which will never completely fill our soul.
Obeying God may seem a tedious 'long route' to take, in today's world of instant gratification. But surely God, who sees all things, will be pleased with us and will remember our obedience. He prizes obedience above sacrifice. So in the long run, it's always the smarter choice.
We are encouraged not to tire of doing good. Not to give up doing right when you don't get instant rewards. To keep being patient with that unloveable neighbour, to continue forgiving those who repeatedly hurt us, to keep hoping in what we do not see. This is what we are called to do. The eventual reward is unimaginably magnificent in comparison with what paltry happiness that temptation falsely entices us. Would you exchange your riches in heaven for the 'rags' on earth which now appear seductive? Surely the smarter choice is to hold out.
You may laugh at the person who plays by the rules while the fender-bender gets away with compromise; but at the end of the day, it's the good guy who will finish first. Cause in God's kingdom, the last shall be first.
