I am going to be writing on different subjects that we deal with on a daily basis and use God's Word to hopefully give some clarity. God's Word is really good about dealing with common sense, everyday things and giving us the root wisdom on each one. As you read these I hope you will see the deeper picture of why God restricts certain things and frees certain things. In a time when we seem to go off of second and third hand information, it is refreshing to tap into God's Word and see the why of these subjects.
The first one I will be writing about is PROCRASTINATION. Procrastination is the act of delaying or putting off something. It's amazing to me that in the world we live in with the immediate way you can get almost anything, procrastination is at an all time high. We are on the verge of being just like George Jetson, where we can push a button and we get something. We no longer have to wait for any information, at the push of a button, it's there. Why wait for a company to get an item in, we can order it online and get it before the store and probably cheaper. Need help accessing the Bible? Just go to the Glo Bible, or any other app and you can get to know the Bible frontwards and backwards. We have so much available to us, but still we procrastinate. Why? It comes back to how much value we put on time itself. When you are younger you feel like you have all the time in the world and as you get older to the milestone ages of 30,40, 50, and 60 you start to put more value on that time. My life verse is Ephesians 5:16 and it says, (The Message Bible) "Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!" As Christians our perspective about time is really no different than those who don't know Christ, but it should be. We should have a keen sense that every day, every moment counts, and believe that lives are at stake...but do we? I know I get into a rut from time to time and just let moments slip by and don't do things I should be doing because I put it off. For years we preached that no opportunity to share Christ should be ignored or put off, but they are put off and even long forgotten. It's almost like there is a dull haze over our lives and one day runs into the other through busyness and overcommitments. Priorities get shifted to adjust for more intrusive calendar planning and then the whole thing falls apart and we put ourselves on a shelf in the area of serving Christ because those priorities have changed. Christ is no longer Number 1, but just another dial on our activities list. Oh, He's high and lifted up on our tongue and our thoughts, but not much in our urgency to serve Him. We no longer have balance and the shifting sands on the beach of our life reveal something deeper, something more problematic. We don't want to think about it and with an easy going way of living the Christian life we are enabled to ignore it. But it's there....It's like the buzz you hear when a sound system has a 60 cycle hum going through it showing it has a bad ground. We also have a bad ground. We aren't grounded. Surely in a time when information is so readily available and the Bible and all it's helps are just a Kindle on button away we couldn't have let this one thing slip in our lives. What thing is that? We have become God. Oh not the creator. Just a facsimile thereof. We have so much information about Him that we think we ARE Him. But we're not! Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction." In other words, we are bound for destruction if our pride is out of whack! Why aren't we grounded? Why the hum? Why worry about it? Because it is the essence of who we are in Christ. We think our days aren't numbered...We think we have it all figured out....We blame God for our lack of submitting by saying something stupid like, "Oh well, it's in God's Hands, so I will just go ahead and live like I want because He wants me to." Does that sound as crazy to you as it does to me? I hope so. The pinnacle of being our own God is to do something and then blame it on the Sovereignty of God. When we do that it takes us and our lack of commitment to serve Him with all of our lives out of the picture and then you have....PROCRASTINATION! Who is guilty of procrastination? Everyone, and especially the Evangelical Church of today. We put off doing something we need to do and say we will do it next year and guess what? Next year turns into another and another and so on. Jesus was dealing with this from the beginning. In Luke 9:62 He summed it up by saying, "No procrastination, no backward looks. You can't put God's kingdom off until tomorrow. Seize the day!" Jesus himself lived and taught NO PROCRASTINATION! If you were going to follow Jesus, you were going to let the one who made time be the source or foundation of everything you do.
Ok, so where do we go from here? Here are some practical helps for dealing with procrastination.
1. Start your day with God and His Word. Not a daily quiet time!! A time to organize how this day is going to go with God and make His daily priorities, your priorities. Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you through that day (moment by moment) and then take off the parking brake, put your spiritual car in drive, and GO!!
2. Be alert!! In Matthew 10:16, 26:41, Luke 17:3, and Romans 12:11 the scriptures all speak to being alert. Don't be dull-minded!! In fact, Romans 12:11 says, "Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master." He's not saying "do more. He is saying "do what God wants."
3. Don't put off anything you don't have to. Make a mental note to follow through on all things. ALL THINGS! When you make the most of every day you are honoring God by saying "thanks for today."
4.Stay away from people who draw you into procrastination by their passive lifestyles of commitment. We are in a "put off" society and the time wasting of that society will bring us down every time. Don 't let others affect you, but you affect them with Godly living.
5. Quit making excuses. Admit fault (not proud of it) when it happens. Most people I know will tell a lie to get out of the guilty sentence of not doing something they were supposed to do. Your excuse holds no weight with God and He is watching and listening for some believers who will man up in the area of excuse making.
6. Live life in freedom. The less things you put off, the more your horizons brighten up. It's just the way it is. If you are in a haze right now, it is probably due to procrastination. Stop procrastinating and your skies will brighten up and so will you.
Remember, balance is essential to growing in your walk with the Lord. Quit trying to be your own God and surrender to His time schedule today....A brighter future is waiting just around the bend. But, you will never see it if you put it off..
The Pilgrimage continues....
David Warren
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