Proverbs 27:1 “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”
I read that the sin of
procrastination may not be one of the so-called “seven deadly sins,” but it may
come close if it involves neglecting to do what God has clearly commanded us to
do. The Apostle Paul warns of our sin
nature in Romans 7:19, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do;
but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Sins of omission
may well be as serious in many cases as sins of commission. The Bible warns in James
4:17, “Therefore to him that knows
to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin”.
To the professing Christian
who deliberately goes against God’s will, either by neglect or intent, Jesus
warns in Luke 12:47, “And that servant, which knew his Lord’s will,
and prepared not himself, neither did according to His will, shall be beaten
with many stripes”. This was spoken in the context of a parable, but the
message was clear that it is dangerous to ignore God’s revealed will.
The principle even applies
in the unbelieving secular realm. James 4:13-14 tells us, Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we
will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a
profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For
what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little
time and then vanishes away. Why put off till tomorrow, what can be done
today?
The Lord Jesus explained in Matthew
13:22, “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who
hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.”
The most dangerous sin of
procrastination, of course, is neglecting to come to Christ for forgiveness and
salvation. As the Apostle Paul stressed in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold,
now is the day of salvation”. Ignoring God while fully involved in pleasure
or business or anything else is at least presumptuous. To the rich man in
Christ’s parable who had spent his life concentrating on accumulating goods,
God said in Luke 12:20, “You fool,
this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things
be, which you have provided?” Existentialism (a philosophy that emphasizes
individual existence, freedom and choice in living for today; the worldview
that humans define their own meaning in life) is really atheistic secular
humanism. We do not know what even one tomorrow may bring, so we need to seek
God daily and “walk in wisdom toward them
that are without, redeeming the time” (Colossians 4:5). Do not procrastinate.
Seek the Lord, read and know His Holy Word, and do what it says daily for life,
for it is good, right and for the best for you always.
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