Don't Delay; Do It Now!

Confession: I'm a procrastinator.  I generally wait until the last possible minute to do something.  Whether it's getting up for work, writing a paper, paying a traffic ticket, doing household chores, etc, I can never seem to muster up the motivation to just do it.  The fact that this blog entry is a day late is a testament to that.  I always start with the best of intentions which quickly go south.  It's a bad habit that I'm not proud of, and I know that God is not pleased with it.

I did a search to see what the Bible says about procrastination and here's are a few points I found out:

1) Diligent work creates opportunity for advancement - Proverbs 12:24 "Diligent hands rule, but laziness ends in slave labor."

2) God honors and requires diligence in all of our responsibilities - Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men”

3) Procrastination is rebellion - if I'm sense in my spirit that there is a task I need to do and I ignore that prompting to do it, I'm rebelling.  Hebrews 3:15 "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion".

4) Procrastination can disqualify you from receiving what God has promised - Numbers 32:13 "The LORD's anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone."

My usual self-centered reason for procrastinating is because I don't feel  like doing something, but feelings should never be a reason, excuse or motivation for anything.  Who knows how many opportunities I've disqualified myself for simply because I didn't just do what had to be done when it needed to be done.

I realize that I have conditioned and trained myself to procrastinate for the past 30 years, so re-conditioning is going to take some serious effort and obedience to the voice of God.  Like any other goal, without a plan it's just a wish (Waste of Invaluable Seconds and Hours).  So, here's the plan:

1) Make order easy - Get organized: as it stands my bedroom and my home office are in a bit of disarray.  The arm chair in my bedroom is loaded with clothes that need to be put away and my desk is covered in papers that should be filed or shredded.  Let's not even discuss my car, suffice it to say #mess!  So, Friday night I'll be cleaning and won't stop til it's done.


2) Plan my work, work my plan: It's not that there aren't enough hours in my day, problem is there's not enough order in my day.  I'm great at setting goals and making long-term plans, but managing the day to day needs major work.  Step #2: when I get an assignment schedule it IMMEDIATELY.  For me that means going back to the old school planner; I've tried the fancy smart phone features.  They work great for appointments, but I need to write stuff down.

3) Don't Delay; just do it now:  I think it might have been Paul in the Bible who said, "When I heard from the Lord, I did not confer with the flesh."  God doesn't just talk to me about the spiritual things, He's also talking to me about everyday things like hanging up my clothes when I take them off, keeping my car tidy, not waiting til the last minute to work on school assignments.  He wants to rule and reign in every area of my life, and that requires me being obedient to every direction He gives not just when He says pray or read my Bible.  Step #3: handle the little things in life as they arise.  Make it a practice to put things where the belong.