I often find myself procrastinating things. These things range from insignificant to crucial, time-critical tasks that must be completed or I will face severe consequences. I never understood why I procrastinated so much. After everything was said and done, I typically tell myself that it was dumb to push that thing off so long and that if I had only started earlier, I would have been able to do a better job. As a college student, procrastination is seen as a given: it’s how most students get the motivation to complete their assignments. I have often touted procrastination as the superior way of operating in the college environment. I thought I was more efficient with my time, completing assignments in a fraction of the time my peers did, if not only because I didn’t allocate enough time in the first place.
I am now finishing my time in school. I have had some time to reflect on my habits, and how those actions have affected me, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I have come to view procrastination as a much more serious sin pattern. The root of procrastination is selfishness. What do I do when I procrastinate? I engage in various forms of self-indulgence. I seek ways to fulfill and gratify myself which are quicker and easier than the task at hand. This is a problem because God created man to work, to be productive:
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Genesis 2:15
When we participate in God’s plan and will, we glorify him. God wants us to work, labor, and produce things to bless the people around us. How can I be blessing others when I am so focused on my pleasure? When I procrastinate, my actions are innately self-serving, and by definition, I am unable to fulfill my God-given charge to bless others through my work. I am no longer serving God! Instead, I serve and glorify myself.
This selfishness is very infectious. Once I let my guard down, indulging in self-gratification for even a moment, that sin takes hold of me, which leads to more sin. Once I stray from God’s grace, I am completely ineffective as an ambassador for Christ. I don’t seek ways to serve others, I don’t spend time in prayer, or even read my Bible. Only once I “cry out from the pit”, realizing that God is my only method of escape can I be restored.
You have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.I called on your name, O LORD,
from the depths of the pit;
you heard my plea, ’Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
You came near when I called on you;
you said, ’Do not fear!’
Lamentations 3:44; 55-57
This passage in Lamentations perfectly describes how I feel amid a season of selfishness. I feel that I am unable to talk to God or read my Bible. I struggle to do these things because I have not humbled myself before coming to God. I come to him, asking for his presence while I continue to glorify myself. How that must offend God! It is only once I repent of my sin, humble myself, and acknowledge God as the true source of my satisfaction and fulfillment that I can regain that close relationship with the Spirit.
The more they increased,
the more they sinned against me;
I will change their glory into shame.
Hosea 4:7
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Romans 12:11
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Romans 12:13
Ethan Smith
Mon Apr 3 04:11:15 2023