Don't Procrastinate...Anticipate!

Have you ever thought of procrastination as a sin? I know many really struggle with procrastination with all aspects of their life. This usually has not been a problem for me. I have actually had the opposite problem when it comes to work. If I have a job to do, I jump at it. However, I have put off God’s work for a couple reasons.

1. I am not sure if I am doing God’s will or just thinking about something in which I am interested. This blog for example, every time I start to back off from doing it, I have many people let me know how much it means to them. I feel like I am constantly asking, “God, are you talking to me?” When I don’t do it I feel guilty. When we do not do God’s will, we will feel guilty.

2. I feel incapable of the task at hand. I do not feel equipped to do the work I feel I am being called to do. I feel anxiety or fear about the situation. Many of you may find this as comical as I do, but I have been told multiple times I am brave. ???? I do not feel that way, but I do feel that God will carry me through anything he puts in front of me. I still worry about it, but I guess I am good at hiding it. I often feel I am in way over my head. Many in the Bible felt the same way. In Exodus 4:10-13, Moses begged God not to use Him. He did not feel equipped to lead people because he appeared to have a stuttering problem. Exodus 4:10-13 Moses pleaded with God, “Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” God said, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say!”

How can we question the God who made literally everything. Do we actually think that after God made…everything, that in all space and time, he accidentally got you confused with someone else? One of my favorite verses is Matthew 6:25-34. God says, “25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Then he says…“34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

3. I get lazy. I tell myself a story that I do a lot of “good things” and deserve a break. However, when we are doing God’s work, we are not pulling from our own strength, we are pulling from the supernatural strength of God. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Soaring on wings like eagles, does not sound like burnout.

When we procrastinate we are disobeying God. When God asks us to do something, we are to do it right away. In Numbers 20: 1-13, Moses was in a real predicament. His sister Miriam had just died and he had all the Israelites moving into the community to follow Moses. This was 2 million people. God had just split the Red Sea so the Israelites could walk through and saved them from the Egyptians. These people literally saw miracles with their own eyes. However, the Israelites started complaining because they were hungry and thirsty. Put yourself in Moses’s shoes. Can you imagine how stressful this situation was for Moses? He feels responsible for all these people, he is mourning the death of his sister and he likely felt like the customer service desk at Walmart with all the whining.

We can learn a couple things from Moses’s next steps.

1. He went to God immediately and brought his brother Aaron. When we are in trouble or unsure what to do, we need to go to God.

2. God told him exactly what to do. Sometimes it feels like God says nothing. If God says nothing, keep doing the last thing He told you to do until you are clear on direction again. In this situation, God definitely gave clear direction to Moses.

3. Moses and Aaron sort of did what God said, but gave the glory to themselves rather than God. He did go to God and God told him exactly what to do, but He did not follow through how God said. God still blessed the Israelites through Moses by giving them water, but He never let Moses and Aaron go to the promise land. In other words, God will did “work all things for good of those who love him,” (Romans 8:28), but they did not do what He asked them to do in the way he asked them to do it, so God punished them.

When God tells us to do something, we need to do it right away and do it how he told us to do it! I talk a lot about putting off God’s will, but the saddest thing I see is when people put off God entirely. In Acts 24, the Governor of Judea and Samaria was a man named Felix. Paul was arrested for preaching the gospel, and Felix had to cast judgement on the case. Paul was sentenced to jail. Felix requested Paul speak to him about the gospel multiple times, but when Felix started to feel convicted, he would send Paul away again. He never did cast a final sentence on Paul and left him there for 2 years for the next leader to deal with. He procrastinated dealing with his own sin in his life. Can you imagine how God could have used him in his position if he became a follower of Christ. He missed out on a relationship with God and eternity with God.

We will never reach our potential is we procrastinate God’s will. Think about how ridiculous it is to procrastinate the Will of the One that holds all the power in the entire universe! Think about the people that could benefit from God’s will if we were brave and trusting of God.

Don’t procrastinate…anticipate!

God is going to use you! That is something to get excited about!

Love you guys!

Crystal