GIANTS: #10 The Giant Called Procrastination.

Procrastination is a belief that demands the action of voluntarily delaying or postponing something despite knowing that there will be negative consequences for covertly or overtly rebelling.

Procrastinators are passive-aggressive. If forced to fulfill responsibilities, most shift into aggressive responses, minimally detaching themselves from those who expect the fulfillment of daily responsibilities.  

The Giant of Procrastination is clever.

This passive-aggressive monster has mastered the art of causing the believer to be driven by thoughts and habits to avoid tasks or put them off because no self-pleasure is found in the task. The Giant knows he is the most deceptive of all his fellow Giants. He knows that the Lord is not fond of lazy people. By forcing laziness by putting things off, he will likely have the believer delay the mandates released through the indwelling Jesus. Thus, rebellion is born.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

This is not a passage the procrastinator lives by. Procrastinators live to bring glory unto themselves. They won’t admit this, but yet it is the absolute Truth. Those who demonstrate immediate obedience are workers of excellence – even if they don’t find pleasure in the task at hand.

Procrastinators suffer from self-inflicted stress. Each task left uncompleted piles up the following day, week, month, and sometimes years. When the “pile” grows out of control, they shift their excuse to not having enough time in the day. I trained my children with this motto. If your fingerprints are on the task, bring it to completion. Meaning, if that coffee cup on the table was used by you, before leaving the room, pick it up, take it to the kitchen, and wash it. Another example is, before I leave my office each day, I clean it, put things in order, double check my “to-do list” for the next day, and then leave my office. In this modality, I arrive at my office the next day with a sense of order.

The Giant of Procrastination is a time thief.

It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that managed time is managed tasks. So what does this Giant do? Steals the time by shifting the individual to do things that don’t advance them to the long-term goal, which is usually set by a boss, parent, or God Himself. Obsessing over details that don’t advance the cause of Christ causes God’s children to get behind a rolling bolder up a steep hill. Ultimately, the tasks crush them causing them to suffer the sin of laziness.

Procrastination and laziness go hand in hand.

Laziness is a disinterest or disinclination to activity or exertion despite their ability to act or invest the energy necessary to be responsible. The Biblical violation is to be disinterested in completing tasks God has assigned each believer. In other words, it robs God of opportunities and ordained plans He has destined to fulfill through each born-again believer. Thus, procrastinators tend to NOT be interested in serving others while being overly interested in serving themselves.

Jesus was focused on NOT wasting time. So much so that He said some words to some “followers” that most do not understand today.

To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:59-62)

Was Jesus being rude? Did he not care about the needs of others? While these two interested followers were indeed focused on tasks, Jesus puts things in focus. The “offensive” words Jesus concluded with were, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God. Procrastinators obsess over the past. Excuse me; this not only sounds uncaring, but it also sounds absolutely unreasonable. Could we paraphrase this as No one who entangles himself in tasks that don’t advance the Kingdom is not fit for the Kingdom of God? That would be an affirmative, yes. So what is going on here?

The principle is almost too simple for humans to embrace. The task issue is in the “who” is giving the orders. We obey whom we serve. If it is self, we become self-serving. If it is Christ, we become Christ-serving. It so happens that Jesus does care about the small things. However, He is offended by investing in the small things before service to Him.

Walking in the Spirit while responding with immediate obedience is critical for authentic believers. There is no room for procrastination, and Satan knows it. When He told the rich man to sell everything, he had to follow Him was not said in jest. As for Jesus, time is the most valued principle among born-again believers. Living a “normal” human life is possible while prioritizing immediate obedience to required tasks mandated by His indwelling life. When Jesus rebuked His disciples for sleeping when they should have been praying, cost Him His life. While Jesus’s arrest was ordained by the Father, the key issue was the Lord took time to address the procrastination as an issue of support and loyalty. We’ve all done it and likely do it some more. However, most of us do desire to be on the “top of our game” when it comes to not delaying the requests of Jesus, but the reality, our flesh defaults to procrastinating. Finally, in due time, most of the disciples lived a compelling life of remaining focused on advancing the mandates given to them by Jesus – after they connected the dots between procrastination and betrayal.

The ugly fact is procrastination is a modern word for betrayal.

Few Christians would admit that their nasty habit of delay is betraying Christ. You would have to be a willing authentic believer to understand this point. To function in obedience successfully, the believer must hear the voice of Christ from within. I conducted a survey several years back with 100 believers. One of the questions was, Do you hear the voice of God within your human mind? Two came back with an affirmative yes. Not only was this alarming for me, but it also produced great sadness within my soul. I believe this is the deception hidden behind procrastination. Self-justified procrastination is justifiable in the minds of those who don’t hear the voice of Jesus from within. The issue is mute to them.

Fact, successful people do not procrastinate. They are successful because they refuse to submit to this misnomer. The covert message propagated by procrastinators is they have no plans to be successful in Christ or the world. Living off of just enough is enough. One of life’s greatest secrets is scooping up each moment while converting each moment into an opportunity for investment, which breeds success. Success is not an attitude of refusing to fail. Success is moving forward despite failures. It is using the temptation to give up, step back, or take a bath in defeat by moving forward and planning for another adventure in all things working together for the good. It is taking the perceived failure as an opportunity to advance our Lord’s mission.

The leading cause for lower salvation(s) in Christ.  

I blame the Giant of Procrastination for the significant drop in salvations in our world today. Personally, I believe it is the goal of this Giant. Think about it. If this Giant can convert this individualized sin into a culture, the masses within the culture will habitually delay the call, by Jesus, for authentic salvation. Our church numbers prove this. I monitor surveys frequently. Church attendance, giving, and reading of the Bible are at the lowest in decades. Fewer and fewer churches conduct “altar calls” at the end of services. While many seeker-friendly churches are increasing in size, the reasons are being blamed on an emotive entertainment-style service. When Satan removed the “hell fire and damnation” message from the church, the church became lukewarm at best. In the past, the heat of “hellfire and damnation” is what kept the church sizzling hot. Those days are gone for the most part.  

And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.” (Acts 24:25)

Like Paul, I am not fond of our present-day lukewarm church. I believe most church leaders are more concerned with money than challenging the listeners with a message of the consequences of procrastinating the guidelines and mandates of Jesus. Undeniably, when people are uncomfortable in churches, they default to giving their money elsewhere. To keep the Church alive, it is imperative that we keep Paul’s admonition alive – righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment. These are not popular words for those who procrastinate.

The Giant of Procrastination takes advantage of the uncertainty of life. It pushes for the removal of conviction. It demands delayed responses to Christ. Jonathan Edwards is one of my favorite writers. He said, “If you treat time well, it will return the favor. No truer words. While the Giant will hate this, treat time with honor, and the future will honor you in the end, let alone finish the race by hearing those Divine words of our Lord; well done, my faithful servant. Leaving a legacy requires building it in a timely fashion while you’re living. You’ve heard the adage of, “poop or get off the pot.” Well, those are my sentiments for all of us. Get out of the stink of your own procrastination.

My old boss used to say, Getter, done! So I can give you your next task. Since procrastinators tend to avoid such assignments, most are left with passive-aggressively stockpiling old tasks to avoid getting new ones. What a shame. It is in the fulfilled tasks that grant us the Eternal Weight of Glory. Something I am looking forward to.

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Next week, The Giant Called Failure. Read the Bio of the author: HERE.