If you've got an ice cream sandwich, you better eat it fast, or else you're going to have melted ice cream running down your hand as you try and fish the last corner of the sandwich out of the wrapper.
On the other hand, if you're going to live for a zillion years, what's the rush if you don't get everything you want tomorrow?
In the 21st century, we want same-day delivery and need to be CEO by the time we're 30 and our first five posts on whatever social media websites need to go viral or we've failed. We need instant gratification, and we need it yesterday. There was an article the other day that talked about the length of a shot on children's shows, and how the average length is something like 12 seconds before it jumps to another shot, far, far shorter than it used to be, because children don't have attention spans like they used to. Our phones have certainly trained our attention spans to be shorter, and we're always looking for the next shot of instant gratification.
In the Christian world, instant gratification isn't promised. Remember, the closest followers of Jesus were largely killed for their beliefs. But they believed so strongly in the future vision of the Kingdom of God that this wasn't a setback -- it was the next step on their road to glory.
So what is the vision your eyes are focused on? If short term goals are all you're thinking about, I beg you to re-orient your vision and think about the fact that God is shaping you as an eternal being that will dwell forever with God. Be patient, and trust in the formative power of the Holy Spirit to shape you, over time, into the person God has called you to be.
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