According to Sam Anderson in his book Boom Town, Oklahoma City (OKC) suffers from a “civic inferiority complex.” Since its raucous founding by way of a land rush in 1889, the City has yearned to be seen as an equal to larger, more established and prestigious cities, which has led OKC to agree to some questionable measures that were not in the citizens’ best long-term interest.
For example, in the early 1960’s, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was searching for a test city where it could study the effects of supersonic commercial airline flights, which meant subjecting citizens to sonic booms …
All.
Day.
Long.
For sixth months straight.
According to Anderson, the FAA search criteria for the test, named Operation Bongo, was a city “outside of the mainstream but not irrelevant; desperate to improve its standing in the world; not too big, not too small.”
In other words, OKC. With the promise of becoming the first hub of supersonic flight and the chance to finally take its place on the world stage, the OKC Chamber of Commerce lobbied hard “for the privilege of allowing the FAA to rain down artificial thunder on its citizens.”
When military jets began pounding the city with sonic booms, the complaints began immediately. Within three weeks, when the head of the FAA came to see how the test was going, he needed a police escort everywhere because of all the death threats he received. In the end, thanks to the constant barrage of negative public reaction, Bongo was a bust because the Chamber of Commerce put potential prestige ahead of the well-being of people.
As tempting as it is to be the first, or the biggest, or the best, it may not be in our best long-term interests. For example, when Satan tempted Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11), Satan promised Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if He bowed down and worshipped him. Satan was trying to tap into the very human desire for power and prestige. But Jesus refused his own immediate gratification, and instead focused on God’s long-term plan of forgiveness and eternal salvation for people.
And because Jesus was obedient to God by resisting the temptation, God granted the prestige Satan was offering anyway, making the Jesus the name above all names and making every knee bow to Him (Philippians 2:8-11).
What short-term gain are you being tempted by that could damage your long-term well-being and God’s long-term plan for you?
Photo credit: Justin Prine on Unsplash