“I’ll Do It Tomorrow!”
Do
you ever lay in bed after your alarm clock goes off?
Do you have a growing stack of Christian articles on your desk, in your closet,
or under your bed that you haven’t filed away yet? Do you ever put off fixing
your car or cleaning, washing, and waxing it? Do you leave dirty clothes lying
around your room? Do you ever put off homework or studying for a test? Do you
ever put off writing letters, making phone calls, or house chores that you know
should be done? Do you ever put off cleaning your room? Do you ever put off
spending time with God in prayer or Bible study? Do you ever put off completing
your weekly goals until the day before they’re due? Do you ever put off making
major decisions? Do you ever put off evangelism? Is your attitude “Don’t do today what you can do tomorrow?” Are you a
procrastinator? If you are a Christian, and therefore a representative of Jesus
Christ, then you should avoid procrastinating. In order to overcome
procrastination, we need to know what it is, its consequences, causes, and
cure.
Procrastination
is the thief of time. It is a subtle form of bondage which prevents us from
maximizing our God-given potentials, robbing us of many blessings that we
otherwise could enjoy. It has been described as the art of keeping up with
yesterday. It is one of the devil’s most potent weapons in defrauding man of
his eternal heritage. It is a habit that is absolutely fatal to effective
spiritual leadership. Procrastination’s subtlety and power lie in the fact that
it corresponds so well to our natural inclinations and innate reluctance to
make important decisions. Making decisions and carrying them through always
involves considerable moral effort. But instead of making that effort easier,
the passage of time has the reverse effect. The decision will be even more
difficult to make tomorrow – and, indeed, circumstances may have so changed
that it will be too late for an advantageous decision. The thorny problem,
decision, or responsibility will never grow easier to grasp than it is now.
What is
procrastination? It is the act or habit of putting things off.
The
results of procrastinating can be disastrous. We may not realize the
consequences now, but later we may look back and say something like, “I wish I
would have done so-and-so while I had the opportunity.” So then, regret may be
one of the consequences of procrastinating. Other feelings that
procrastinating may cause are stress, frustration, or tension. For example,
let’s say that you have a project due for work, school, or the Christian
training group, and you keep putting it off until three days before the
deadline, and it’s a two-week project. More than likely, the longer you wait to
work on the project, the more stress, tension, and frustration tend to build
up. This, in turn, could lead you to being physically, mentally, or spiritually
run down.
Procrastination
may also bring about feelings of guilt, which are very heavy upon a person.
What if you know that your dad isn’t a Christian? And you, being a Christian, know
that you should share your faith with him. You should tell him that God offers
him eternal life in heaven, and all that he has to do to receive this free gift
from God is to put his trust in the fact that Jesus died in order to pay the
penalty for every single one of his sins. And you know that if your dad doesn’t
put his trust in Jesus as his Savior, then he is going to hell when he dies.
And let’s say that because you don’t feel confident or adequate in sharing the
gospel you put off telling your dad the gospel message for so long that he dies
before you get a chance to tell him. I know someone who didn’t tell his dad the
gospel before his dad died. This person told me that he became full of guilt
and regret as a result of not sharing his faith with his dad. Don’t let this
happen to you.
Whenever
we procrastinate, the things that we had hoped to accomplish are left undone.
Tasks and goals are either late or are never achieved. Ambitions are left
unfulfilled. For instance, let’s suppose that your goal is to be as holy as God
is holy, but you have a sin problem that is difficult for you to deal with. But
instead of meeting it head on, you put off dealing with it until a time when
you will be living a so-called “more victorious life.” What just happened is
that you are now out of fellowship with God. And since God is no longer in the
control center of your life, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is not available to
you. Therefore, you cannot be truly joyous and the peace of God will not guard
your mind. Consequently, you may start to feel guilty when you find that even
though you want to do what is right, you end up doing what is wrong. This
happens because you just cannot please God when your are
living out of fellowship with Him. If you don’t deal with your sin problem
soon, you will probably end up becoming indifferent or apathetic toward God and
spiritual things, and therefore, you will soon be on the road to dropping out
of the Christian life.
Or, let’s suppose that your goal in life is to make disciples. And let’s suppose that you find a guy who seems to be interested in coming to your Bible study. You even get his phone number. “Wow!” you exclaim, “This is great! Maybe he’ll be my first trainee!” or “Maybe he’ll be my second trainee!”
Now, let’s suppose that you get up the inertia to call him once. “Rats! He’s not home.” Now, let’s say that the very next day, you don’t call him. And the next? Well, you’ll do it later. Pretty soon, with a record like that, another potential Bible study member and possible trainee fades into the background.
Some of us have the goal of becoming a spiritual teacher-trainer but we put off evangelizing. And if we put off evangelizing, we’ll probably not find a trainee. So how will we ever become a spiritual teacher-trainer if we don’t share the gospel in order to first get a convert who can then be challenged to become a trainee? And how can we make disciples/converts of all the nations, as it states in Matthew 28:19, if we don’t continue to evangelize and follow-up others even after we do have one trainee.
The sin of mediocrity is another trait that may pop up in the life of the procrastinator. In the Christian training group, each of the guys living here is working on developing their character and leadership skills so they can be more effective as Christian workers. Every week they are given a project to do. It may be a tape to listen to, a Bible study to work on, or articles to read. After they finish their project they are to pick out one or two principles they learned and apply them during the week. There are seven days in a week, and if they wait till Friday to do the Bible study, listen to the tape, or read the articles, they have only the weekend to apply the week’s principles. Because they are rushed for time, they may do a sloppy job on their goals and therefore, they do not develop their potential to the fullest.
Another
area in which mediocrity may be evident as a result of procrastination is in
your prayer life. Maybe your prayer life is not as good as you want it to be
because you keep putting prayer off. For example, I used to say, “I’m too busy
for prayer. I’ve got other things to do.” So I put talking with God off. Even
when I did pray, I usually rushed to get it done, and I soon realized that
“Hurry is the death of prayer.” My prayer life was “kaput.”
Besides
not praying, I also put off living a godly life. I would say things like, “I’ll
sin just one more time.” “I’ll lust after that girl just this last time.” “I’ll
break the speed limit just this last time. After all, I’m in a hurry!” “I’ll be
disobedient to God just this last time! Tomorrow, I’ll be obedient. Tomorrow,
I’ll straighten up. Tomorrow, I’ll live a holy life.” Because I had this
attitude, I started backsliding, getting depressed, and even thought about
dropping out of the Christian race. There was more than one time I uttered,
“I’m useless to God and people. I can’t do anything right. I might as well
quit!”
The
prevailing peace of God became non-existent in my life. I had also lost the
excitement, zeal, and enthusiasm concerning my faith. And all this came about
just because I put off living a godly life. Just because I
procrastinated.
Procrastinating also causes us to waste our time. For example, I know a guy who was introduced to discipleship (being spiritually taught and trained to be Christ-like in character and mission), but instead of jumping at the wonderful opportunity to be spiritually taught and trained immediately, he put off the opportunity for about half a year. By doing so, he literally lost six months of excellent training and trait-building, thus delaying his spiritual growth. “How did not getting spiritually taught and trained affect his spiritual growth?”, one may ask. The answer is that he lost out on training, leadership skills, and improving his character traits which would have made him more experienced and therefore a more mature Christian. Discipleship means more that just coming to Bible studies. It is a lifestyle which includes learning how to: witness; deal with cults; follow-up new Christians; pray; determine God’s will; lead a guided discussion group; ask good questions; set objectives, goals, and priorities for your life; manage your time the way God would have you do so; study and interpret the Bible properly; put a Bible study or sermon together; speak publicly; plan, organize, and supervise retreats and seminars; counsel, confront, and encourage people; critique speakers, literature, and tapes; manage your finances; motivate and lead people; communicate and develop interpersonal relationships; give people a vision for reaching the world for Christ; cook; shop thriftily; clean; work through conflicts; and develop good study habits. It also includes developing a person to be: caring; loving; hospitable; giving; clean; neat; selfless; to have a servant spirit; to be patient; forgiving; faithful; committed; truthful; open; honest; thinking; analytical; sincere; genuine; humble, yet bold; sensitive, yet uncompromising; persevering; steadfast; joyful; positive; confident; co-operative; discerning; wise; disciplined; enthusiastic; frank; punctual; responsible; teachable; spiritually minded; a visionary; trusting in God; kind; understanding; thrifty; appreciative; grateful; flexible; expressive; organized; a lover of God’s word and prayer; Christ-controlled; and sober-minded.
“Well,” someone will say, “can’t I learn all this stuff just by coming to Bible study?” Maybe, but discipleship will speed up the process immensely and save you a lot of time. This is because people learn a great deal from observation and from being corrected by supervisors. Jesus’ 12 disciples were to be with Him so that they could observe Him, be corrected by Him, and learn from Him. They were to imitate His faith and conduct. And the only way they could do that properly is by being with Him for a large amount of time.
Imagine this. You are living in the time of Jesus and are a part of His group. You’re not a disciple/trainee, but you do come to His Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday Bible studies. Who do you think is going to be more Christ-like (which should be every Christian’s goal) and more equipped as a Christian worker (which every Christian should be)? You, who gets approximately 12 hours a week of teaching and training, or the disciple/trainee, who gets probably 100 hours of not only teaching and training, but also character trait building? Remember, discipleship is more than just teaching. It entails the imparting of a life.
A person who is not a trainee but is a Bible study member can remain independent, stubborn, self-centered, unteachable, unsubmissive, and morally corrupt in action and attitude while merely attending Bible studies. He can be wasteful with his time, talents, and treasures as well. As a new born baby needs a mother and father, someone to discipline him, and teach and train him to use the toilet, to talk and walk, and to function properly in the social realm, so a baby Christian, and that is exactly what an immature Christian is, needs to be taught and trained how to die to self, that he has no rights, to be co-operative, a team player, teachable, interdependent, forgiving, and generous. He needs to learn how to work through conflicts or disagreements over: music and food tastes, noise volume, room temperature and cleanliness, personal hygiene, utility and phone usage, personality differences, etc. If you are just a Bible study member, you may learn some of the principles in dealing with these difficult situations. But, more than likely, you’ll never have to apply them. On the other hand, if you are a disciple/trainee, you will have to apply them if you are going to survive in this Christian discipleship/training program.
For those who don’t think they ought to be spiritually taught and trained, how is it that you think that a four month old baby needs someone to teach and train him to become a man, yet you don’t think that a person who is “born again,” that is a baby Christian does not need someone to teach and train him to become a spiritual man? The bottom line is that Jesus commanded us to make disciples/converts and the best way we can make disciples is to first be trained ourselves. This way we can learn how to do everything right the first time and not waste years trying to find the right way through trial and error. When we are first spiritually taught and trained, we have someone who is experienced to show us the right way.
In
my opinion, if you are given the opportunity to become a trainee, you ought to
take it, because once the opportunity is gone it may
never arise again. If you are thinking about being spiritually taught and
trained by a particular person in this group, don’t put off the decision to do
so. Otherwise, when you do make the decision, that person and this group may
not be here, and I don’t know of any higher quality Christian
discipleship/training group than this one.
In
Luke, chapter 9, verses 59-62, we find an example of how two people were given
the opportunity to become a disciple/follower of Jesus’. It reads, “And [Jesus]
said to another, ‘Follow Me.’ But he said, ‘Permit me first to go and bury my
father.’ But [Jesus] said unto him, ‘Allow the dead to bury the dead; but as
for you, go and proclaim everywhere the
Besides missing out on some excellent teaching, training, and trait-building, procrastination can cause us to waste not only our time (which is a sin according Ephesians 5:16 which says we are to make the most of our time) but also our money. For example, let’s suppose that you put off checking and changing the oil in your car. Or you put off airing up your leaky tire. When your car burns up because there wasn’t any oil in it and your tire blows out because the tread wore out, you have to spend money on things you shouldn’t have had to spend it on. And if you have to work to get that money, then your money equals time spent at work.
Procrastination
can also bring shame to the cause of Christ. For example, if a person
procrastinates in dealing with sin in his life and he gets caught, the
repercussions of his sin can bring about distrust or slander on the whole
Christian community. Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart are perfect examples of
this. These two famous, so-called Christians failed to deal with their lusts,
and as a result, they both committed the sin of adultery. Their sins caused
people everywhere to think of true Christianity as being full of hypocrisy.
Putting off dealing with the sins of greed, worldliness, lying, stealing,
murder, and so on, can also bring shame to the cause of Christ.
Our
procrastination can even be a stumbling block to others. They see our
unnecessary delays and resulting negligence and wonder what kind of God we
serve.
Finally,
procrastinating can cause us to miss out on something good. For instance, one
may miss out on becoming a Christian. I think of a guy who I witnessed to who
said he wasn’t ready to become a Christian. He may never become a Christian as
a result of his procrastination. Also, as has already been mentioned, one may
miss out on the opportunity to become a disciple/trainee. Or, let’s suppose
that God gives you the opportunity to serve someone else in the name of Christ,
but you procrastinate. You not only lost the opportunity but also the rewards
that would have come with the act of service. This list could on and on. There
are many consequences to procrastination.
Realizing that
there are no advantages to procrastinating but only disadvantages, why
procrastinate?
Some
false reasons that people give for procrastinating are: “I just didn’t have the
time.” “I had too many interruptions.” Or, “I didn’t feel well,” (when he
actually did feel well, he just didn’t feel like doing the assignment). How
many of you have ever said this, “I’ll do it tomorrow!”? In Luke 14:18-24, the
people who were invited to become a part of God’s kingdom procrastinated
because they had more important things to do like going to the farm, relaxing,
trying out their new toys, and spending time with their wife or, to make the
application more relevant to you guys, spending time with your girlfriends.
Believe it or not, all these are false reasons for procrastinating. They are
cover-ups for the real reasons.
In
Matthew 24:48-51, there is a story of an evil slave who was to take care of his
master’s household while he away. But the evil slave had said, in effect, “I’ll
take care of my chores tomorrow, for my master is not coming home for a long
time.” The slave’s excuse, “I’ll do it tomorrow,” reveals the real reasons as
to why he procrastinated in doing his responsibilities. The real reasons were
his attitudes of laziness and a lack of motivation.
Besides
laziness and a lack of motivation, feelings of anxiety which conflict with our
goal of feeling good about things is also a real reason why people
procrastinate. Perhaps you’ve said, “I’d feel awkward witnessing to him right
now. There is just too many people watching, so I’ll
get him next time.” Or, maybe you just woke up and although you had put in your
schedule to have your Quiet Time, Prayer Time, or go witnessing, you decided
that since getting up and doing those things would be a hassle, you’d rather
stay in bed for awhile where it is comfortable. The reason we tend to please
ourselves and not God or others is because we are basically self-centered.
Another
reason why people procrastinate is because they feel insecure/inadequate.
They have a poor self-esteem. For example, in Exodus 4, Moses said to God,
“C’mon, don’t send me to the Israelites. I can’t talk well. I’m a poor speaker.
Send someone else to do the job.” The prophet Jeremiah also said to God, “Don’t
send me. I don’t know how to speak. I’m to young and
too scared.” Having a wrong concept of who God is and who you are in Christ
tends to cause you to function improperly and not the
way God created you to.
Not
wanting to face our real selves, confess our inadequacies, or experience the
kind of positive change that comes from obedience, trying to play it safe,
hoping the problem will go away, being timid in faith or hesitant to take steps
in the interests of the kingdom of God that will involve risk are also real
reasons why people procrastinate along with having wrong or no clearly defined
priorities of goals that stretch us, stimulate us, challenge our faith, and
unify our life’s activities. For example, some procrastinate in living a holy
life because they are afraid of giving up their fantasies, wrong thought life,
and wrong lifestyle. They just don’t realize that choosing to have their minds
renewed by the Holy Spirit is an exciting, wonderful, and positive change.
Others
procrastinate in the hopes that whatever problem they are faced with will just
go away. They are reluctant to meet the difficult situation head on and deal
courageously with it. For instance, maybe you should be confronting sin in a
fellow Christian’s life, but put off doing so because you don’t want to be rejected
by the sinning Christian. You don’t carry out the biblical command of dealing
with willful sin in the life of another because it may result in the severing
of friendships, feelings of hurt and sorrow in both of your lives, and even
angering the sinning Christian to the point that he/she hates and slanders you.
Or, maybe you put off a necessary operation because it will probably be painful
and unenjoyable. Or, maybe you are afraid of facing the pain of severing
emotional ties with your parents when moving into a Christian
discipleship/training group. This may be caused because you are timid in your
faith and hesitant to take steps in the interests of the
Whatever the cause may be as to why you procrastinate, in order to overcome this bad habit you need to admit that you have a problem, and take responsibility for it. God didn’t cause you to develop bad habits and although the devil may use the habit as a source of temptation, he is not the cause of the habit either, except in a few rare cases. Neither is the problem someone else’s fault. You must deliberately confess: “I have a very definite problem with procrastination. I need God’s help.” You also need to attack the problem with persistent prayer. Next, you need to identify the particular area where procrastination affects you. Is it in your Quiet Time or Prayer Time, decision-making, evangelizing, following up new Christians, or getting up when the alarm clock goes off? Then you need to identify the cause of the problem. Is the reason why you put things off because you are lazy, have a poor self-image, or have wrong or no goals in life? If we procrastinate because we have a poor self-image we need to realize that our adequacy and sufficiency come from the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, who enables us to do all things through Christ. In other words, God provides for all of our needs. He empowers us, enables us, and equips us for the tough decisions and assignments. Whatever our particular area of procrastination, Christ in us is greater. Christ in us is sufficient to meet every challenge, every opportunity, every obstacle, and every demanding relationship. We need to realize that we are not nobodies in Christ Jesus, but somebodies in Christ Jesus. We are God’s workmanship or masterpiece. We are sons/daughters of God. We are joint heirs with Christ. We are crowned with glory and honor. We are a people of dignity and destiny. Our previous state has been forever changed in Christ. We are now a new creation in Christ. Therefore, we must reject the feelings of inferiority, uselessness, and inadequacy and realize that we are valuable in Christ. We also need to realize who God is. He is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. He is all-powerful, faithful, merciful, full of grace, patient, loving, compassionate, kind, gentle, and forgiving. Realizing who God says you are in Him and focusing on Who He is in you should give you a healthy and biblical self-image.
Or,
perhaps the reason why you procrastinate is because you are committing the sin
of laziness, which keeps you from doing what you know God wants you to do,
whether it is in the utilization of time, talents, or treasure.
In
order to deal with the sin of laziness, you must confess your sins to God. That
is, you are to agree with God that you have sinned. Then, you ought to trust
God or believe that God is faithful in forgiving you of all your sins and in
cleansing you from all unrighteousness every time you agree with God that you
have sinned (1 Jn. 1:9). Next, you must be filled or controlled by God the Holy
Spirit. And you do this by asking God to control you. God said in the Bible
that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 Jn.
After confessing your sins to God and asking Him to control you, you must, as an act of your will, choose to quit being lazy or self-centered and quit procrastinating and start having your Quiet Time, your Prayer Time, evangelizing, cleaning up your room, doing your goals, using your time wisely, reading Christian books, following up new Christians, and doing whatever else you know that God wants you to do.
Another reason why some of us procrastinate is because we have wrong objectives, goals, or priorities. Or maybe we don’t have any objectives, goals, or priorities. Is your life objective to glorify God through loving obedience and faith in living holy, in evangelizing, and in building up believers spiritually to be Christ-like in character and mission? Are your goals to believe and obey God’s Word, the Bible, and to have an on-going discipleship core of multiplying spiritual teacher-trainers, by spiritually teaching and training faithful people? Or, are your objective and goals to be wealthy, well known, raise a family, have a good paying job, a nice car, house, boat, or to have fun and spend everything on yourself? Are your priorities to find and develop a core of faithful men who are qualified and trained and experienced in being spiritual teacher-trainers of still other spiritual teacher-trainers? Or, like the people in Luke 14:18-24 and Luke 9:59-62, are your priorities to complete some task any sinner can do, spend time with your family, have a career, or to be materialistic? Are your objectives, goals, and priorities in line with the Bible, or are they in line with your own pleasures, the world’s ideas, or Satan’s plan?
After
choosing the right objectives and goals, the biblical ones, a most helpful
method of overcoming a built-in tendency to procrastinate is to set deadlines
for yourself for completing those objectives and
goals, and then steadfastly refusing to overrun them.
Having
wrong objectives and goals, being lazy, and having a poor self-image cause a
lack motivation which in turn produces procrastination. And the lack of
motivation, poor self-image, laziness, and wrong goals and objectives (for the
person who knows what the Bible says his objective and goals for life should
be) are usually caused by self-centeredness or selfishness.
In
order to get to the major root of the problem of procrastination, we need to
die to our selfish desires which stem from our sinful nature. And in order to
do this we must confess our sins to God and make Jesus Christ the Lord and
Master of every area of our lives by choosing to die to our sinful nature and
instead doing what God says in His Word, the Bible.
Because
procrastination is a bad habit which has many consequences, we must deal with
it immediately. We must do it now!