Keep Procrastinating? Read This Verse.

“Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it”. James 4:17 NRSV

I’m not gonna lie, as I was reading James 4, I was feeling pretty good about myself. In the first 12 verses, James commands the church not to judge one another. “Okay,” I thought. “Check. Moving on.” James tells the church that we should rely on God’s plans and not our own. A little bit harder for me, but Check. And then God humbled me at verse 17. 

 Do not steal. Check. Do not lie. Check. Do not commit adultery. Check. If I'm being honest, I can trick myself into thinking I am following all the commandments 95% of the time. But what about the things that God has called me to do, that I don’t do? The ones no one else even knows I’m supposed to be doing?  Like all the times I ignored God pushing me to share the gospel with strangers (or even friends) because I was afraid of what they may think. Or the times I felt led to do an act of service for someone, but did not want to make the sacrifice. If I’m being honest, God told me to start writing YEARS ago...sheesh. There are not only sins of commission, but also sins of omission. 

Which Servant Are You?

In Luke 12, Jesus tells a parable about preparing for His coming. He uses the illustration of servants waiting for their master to return home from a wedding feast. While the master is gone, the servant is expected to have everything prepared for the master’s arrival, no matter what time the master returns. Verse 47 says that the “servant that knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished.” We do serve a loving God that is patient and gracious, but when He returns we must be ready!

It’s like when your mama asked you to set the meat out, but you didn’t remember until your mom got to the house. I don’t know about y’all, but there were some (painful) consequences for that! You did not make the necessary preparations. Except this is A LOT worse. Our heavenly Father is our master and He IS returning. Are you the servant who is ill prepared or the one that is being rewarded? 

Life is Short

Moses prays, “teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). If you know the story of Moses, you know that Moses is familiar with how short life can be. He witnessed generations of Israelites die (including his own siblings) while they were wandering in the wilderness. Realizing the brevity of life causes us to realize how insignificant we are and how great God’s power is. Think about it. The beating of your heart, the flowing of blood through your veins, the filling up of your lungs–God controls all of it. Understanding how powerful our God is should move us, as it did Moses, to live with purpose. In all of God’s infinite purpose, He felt it necessary to create you and keep you living. So we should seek wisdom and make the will of God a priority since He is the author of life. We seek out the ways that God wants us to live. The great thing is that when we ask for wisdom, the Lord freely and willingly gives it to us.(James 1:5)

Sis,

We serve a mighty God who knows every beating of our heart. You were created with intention and there is no time to procrastinate. Our time here on Earth is limited and we need to be prepared for when He comes. Do the thing God has been pressing on your heart to do. Talk to that person. Attend the event. Start the podcast. Begin the business. Begin to seek wisdom for how God wants you to use your time.