Love to hear from and know who is listening
It’s the end of your workday and you’re staring at the to-do list you made earlier. You have one project at the bottom of the list that you’ve been putting off. It’s already late and you still haven’t gotten to it. You tell yourself I will do that task tomorrow. We all procrastinate from time to time, besides does anyone really wash, dry and fold the laundry all in one day. At our house you know it is time to do the laundry when dirty laundry starts crawling up the wall, out of the top of the basket, even then it can be put off a little longer, at least until you run out of clean under wear. Experts define procrastination as a self-defeating behavior marked by short-term benefits and long-term costs. If you put off doing the laundry you will get the short-term benefit of not having to do it, but the long term consequence is the task get even bigger, or you have to go to the store and buy clean underwear. I pretty sure Joyce has bought clean clothes rather than washing the one she has. Procrastination is the act of willfully delaying the doing of something that should be done, and in some people it is a habitual way of handling any task. While the word itself is not found in the Bible, we can find some principles to help guide us. Sometimes, procrastination is the result of laziness, and the Bible has plenty to say about that. The Bible commends hard work.
Proverbs 13:4 ESV The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.
The Bible says that when it comes to some things, we should never delay. Jesus taught that reconciling with an offended brother should be done immediately upon our remembrance of the situation. In Matthew the bible tells us if you are offering your gift at the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the alter and go get right with your brother, and then come to the alter and offer your gift. However distasteful it may be to pursue peace with your brother or even your enemy, we must avoid procrastinating. In Ephesians the bible tells us, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” Christians must not procrastinate when it comes to sharing the gospel with the lost. There is no time to waste. Some people, upon hearing the gospel and knowing their spiritual need, delay in making a response. This is the most dangerous type of procrastination. Life is short, and we do not know what will happen tomorrow.
James 4: 13-14 ESV Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
Some decisions have eternal consequences! The lost of the world do not realize it, but the truth of the matter is, we will all live for ever either in Hell or Heaven. So in the matter of our spiritual life, we dare not procrastinate. When it comes to your spiritual life a day is coming when everyone will be forced to stop procrastinating!
Philippians 2: 10-11 ESV So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In short, procrastination is a bad habit that can have eternal effects.
