And they always insist on running as if you were in the last 50 meters, no matter what. If you know that you still have 180 years left to go, you could prepare accordingly--by not using up all your energy on the next few meters. On the other hand, if you know that it is only a few meters, you all-out sprint to get across that line.
In practical terms, it might be worth an all-out drive to quit your job, sell everything, and all-out work to exhaustion if you only had a week or two to go, and they are not simply saying that just to get the most out of us now. But, if you had another 20 years or more, that would be downright stupid to exhaust your resources now and still be that far away. This is not simply a drive to get people saved--rather, a drive to prevent people from doing anything that could enhance their souls, however slightly, with the remaining time. (While at the same time, programming their souls to poverty and misery that extends beyond this lifetime.)