I played one game at striker in soccer in high school. Well, to be more accurate, I played one half at striker. My one goal was to score a goal. The game was against Gibson County High School and I was going to play on the left side. I knew everything that I would do after I scored. I would start off with the typical Arsenal celebration of grabbing the ball out of the net and taking it to center field for the kickoff. Then I would run to the flag and kick it just like my favorite pros would do. I would finish off the hat trick of celebrations, if I scored three, by knee sliding toward the bench.
There was only one issue with this train of thought, I still had to put the ball in the net. I never scored a goal in my high school career. I was so focused on what I would do after I scored that I never put the ball in the net.
We do this with our spiritual life from time to time by being so focused on what comes later that we do not pay attention to what is happening now. When we become so enamored with how beautiful heaven must be, we become blind like the Thessalonians were when Paul wrote them a second time. They were just waiting on heaven and not working because they took the idea that Jesus is coming soon to a serious level. We should take Jesus coming soon seriously, but there is still work to be done here on earth. We sing the song “We’ll Work Till Jesus Comes” but is that really what we are going to do or are we ripping the meaning out of those words? We have to score the goal before we can celebrate.
Bible Minutes 