Seeing beyond the Immediate As Christians we have to live our lives in a way which lead us constantly towards Christ,

by living our lives in a way which constantly measures up to as scripture says the measure & stature of Christ I have a quote which I really like to ponder on as I work out how to do that: "I did what I did because all life is sacred. But when the object of your actions does not share that belief.. I fear I have served the present by sacrificing the future." Lenier Babylon 5 In all that we do as we live our lives we ave to ensure that what we are doing is generating the right results and is not resulting in situations in our lives which are worse than if we had not done anything. The main thrust of my article is seeing beyond the immediacy of an action towards conclusions which whilst undefined in the immediate can be catastrophic in the future. The most poignant part of the quotation which I quoted is the line, I fear I have served the present by sacrificing the future. And my how often does sin come into our lives on the tail end of such comments. We are at all times presented with options and choices in life, some right and some wrong, some with consequences immediately obvious and others with consequences whose results are far worse than any of our intentions. Lets elaborate on the point for a moment: That first puff of a cigarette That first glass of alcohol That illicit look at something obscene That first so-called minor high with a drug

All of these can be actions which serve the present but sacrifice the future. Jesus in the Bible actually takes it one step further when he says, if you even look at a woman lustfully, you are guilty of the sin of adultery. Whoa. The point being that when Jesus said what he said it was because all sin starts out as something small and seemingly insignificant, I mean think about it, when a man lusts after a woman, who knows except the man who lusts and God. But as time passes the sin leads to corruption inside of the man, and the corruption is the breeding ground for temptation which could lead to adultery. And just like one puff of a cigarette can lead to lung cancer in the future and one drink of alcohol can lead to a life of drunkenness and dissipation we are all to look at every thing we say and do and take a moment to see beyond the immediate.

After all our future is merely the seeds which are planted in the present.