Looking Too Far Ahead

In sports, there is an understanding that no matter how good you are you should never look too far ahead. Sports history is riddled with instances where teams or athletes took their opponents for granted - and many were ultimately upset.

For example, Mike Tyson, undoubtedly, was thinking about Evander Holyfield (the #1 contender at the time) when he fought a virtually unranked fighter by the name of Buster Douglas. Douglas ended up being the first man to ever knock Mike Tyson out.  Tyson was caught looking too far ahead and ignored that which was right in front of him.

In many ways, I think many Christians are dangerously close to doing what Tyson did. They are focused on getting to heaven and taking as many people with them as they can. In fairness, this life is very short and one never knows when your time will come. However, there is a point at which we’re looking too far ahead.

What we need to remember, and reminder ourselves constantly of, is that hell is both a spiritual and physical existence. As Rob Bell puts it, hell is any place devoid of God’s desire for man. It’s not so much a “punishment” as it is a consequence of our lives or our circumstances. There are many, many people in this world that are in a literal living hell. And while these people may need salvation from a spiritual hell, many of them need immediate salvation from the hell here on earth.

Passing out tracts in bathrooms seems silly when children in third world countries are starving or people are being massacred en masse in places like Darfur.

Unfortunately for me, this criticism is as much self-levied as it is levied at others. I’ve not been active in helping people escape hell on earth. I’d sooner buy the latest video game than send that money to feed those starving children. So, my hypocrisy is not lost on me. I recognize it and realize it needs to change - or I just need to shut up about it.

I guess I’m just trying to keep from looking too far ahead.

This entry was posted on August 30, 2007 at 7:26 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.