“…if you’re worn out in this footrace with men, what makes you think you can race against horses?” (Jeremiah 12:5, MSG). You might be desiring changes with this new year but find you’re struggling to keep up! This could be because of things coming against you or because you’re not putting in the effort.
Paul urges you to wake up in Romans 13:11-14. What should you do when you’re not spiritually awake? You need to wake up (verse 11) dress up, and clean up (verse 13). Do you believe that you can affect your life (five years down the road)? You’re already adjusted to looking ahead four to five years. Think about it—while we live in a time and generation where we want what we want and we want it now, we reluctantly acquis to the fact that much of what we want gets deferred. We’re a microwave generation, but we serve a crockpot God. He doesn’t always just hand us what we want. Want that dream car that you really can’t afford? You can have it now, but not really. What you’re doing is driving it on loan until you make the final payment! Want a college degree? It’ll take four or five years of consistent commitment. Want to own a home? It typically takes you about 30 years to actually own your house.
Here’s the problem: we’re short-term superheroes who sometimes overestimate what we can do in the short-term. Additionally, most of us underestimate what we can do in the long-term. We look at a short period of time, and we think we can do so much! We look at a long period of time, and we underestimate what we can actually accomplish if we just stick with it. The trouble is, so many of us have tragically short attention spans. And the “sticktoitiveness” is evaporating from younger generations. We jump ship the moment we’re not happy about something! The average pastor in America stays at a church three years or less before getting out of pastoring for good. For youth pastors, it’s less than two years.
Here’s something I want you to focus on during 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting—decide what you need to stick with in order to be the person you want to be in five years! This could be one main thing or several things. Do you need to work on your relationship with God or your spouse? Do you need to get healthy and take care of your temple (1 Corinthians 6:19)? This is a good time to pray for the world around you and to focus on who God wants you to be!