Delayed gratification is not always popular, but in the end it is essential for long lasting benefits.

In view of recent events, it should be no surprise that China is home to over 90% of rare earth minerals (17 elements on the periodic table, which are important for green technology, military applications, and other commercial uses such as hybrid cars, computers, and the like). For example, last week Japan stated that China blocked imports from reaching Japanese shores due to a maritime incident. China, of course, denied. Now it seems that Japan is even recycling these elements.

People have known about China’s monopoly of rare earth minerals for a while, but not too much attention had been given to it until the past few years. What impresses me most is China’s forward thinking. Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) once observed that just as the Middle East had oil, China had the world greatest deposits of these minerals and so he began to cultivate them. He was forward thinking; he knew that people would need these minerals in time. He was right.

I think we can learn a lot from Deng Xiaoping. Delayed gratification is important for all people and countries. If we only want something right away, we will never learn to do something really great. Great works take time, hard work, the overcoming of setbacks, and therefore persistent resolve. This is what frightens me about our culture. Most people want to do things in haste. I am afraid what quickly comes up, will also quickly go down.

If anyone can exemplify the beauty of delayed gratification, in my opinion, it is the Christian, who has a hope of glory. If Christians rediscover the hope of glory that is in Christ, I am convinced that they will be the very best citizens in the world. They will slowly build something that will benefit not only themselves, but others as well. The way I see it the church needs to focus on future glory a whole lot more, rather than what many churches usually do – ponder how to maintain and grow in numbers.