DESTINY ON HOLD
Acts 24:24-27
And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
and as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, go thy way for this time; when i have a convenient season, i will call for thee.
He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him.
but after two years porcius festus came into Felix' room: and Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left paul bound.
A governor named Felix heard Paul preach the gospel and trembled concerning the impending judgment the apostle spoke of. “Go away for the present; when I have a convenient opportunity, I will send for you,” the governor said. This is procrastination.
Procrastination simply means to keep postponing, or putting things off often indefinitely.
Procrastination is often described as the grave in which opportunity is buried. Procrastinators like Felix are usually presented great opportunities but alleged they are waiting for ideal conditions, perfect timing, and so on. The truth is there is no such thing as an ideal condition or perfect timing.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 says: “He that observes the wind shall not sow; and he that regarded the clouds shall not reap.”
A Kenyan proverb says, “A good plan today is better than a perfect one tomorrow”.
Do you have a project? Fix a deadline and enforce it. A goal without a time limit is a dead dream. Know that success always rises up to meet the man who does today what others are thinking of doing tomorrow.
Leornado Da Vinci’s story gives us a portrait of a procrastinator: the painter never finished a project on time and a number of his works were unfinished when he died. The Last Supper was only finished after his patron threatened to cut off all funding. Mona Lisa took twenty years to complete. The Adoration of the Magi, an early painting, was never finished and his equestrian projects were never built. So much around him was half-completed that he appealed to God, “Tell me if anything ever was done.”
NO ONE KNOWS TOMMOROW
Scripture says, Today is the day of salvation, and now is the hour! A man who keeps postponing the day of salvation will soon find himself in a literal hell.
“Do not boast yourself of tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1).
I am sure you are familiar with the phrase “No one knows tomorrow”. Though it is an adage so well-worn, nonetheless it is a profound truth both as a phrasal parable about timeliness, and also the perfect paraphrase for God’s injunction against procrastination:
“How foolish it is to say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this town, and be there for a year and do business there and get wealth: When you are not certain what will take place tomorrow. What is your life? It is a mist, which is seen for a little time and then is gone” (James 4:13-14 BBE).
If you do not know what tomorrow holds, it makes no sense investing any assurances on it. Doing today what you’ve scheduled for tomorrow becomes expedient. All you’ve got in concrete terms is today; tomorrow counts, but it ticks today!
Redeem the time!
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16).
To redeem the time means to stamp a sense of urgency on everything you aim to do. Do you know most things you do today could have been done yesterday; and most you have scheduled for tomorrow could be done today and now?
Procrastination is a dead weight. At the end of the day, a procrastinator would have lost time, lost money, lost steam and lost faith. Experience has shown that that great thing you plan to do tomorrow may come too late. It would be a healing belated, an intervention ill-timed or an idea overtaken by events.
The truth is every task has its place in time, with the grace allotted for it. Once the grace is squandered, the task becomes twice as hard to accomplish. No wonder George Lorimer says,
“Putting off an easy thing makes it hard, and putting off a hard one makes it impossible.”
Don’t keep off; kick off! Don’t put off until tomorrow what you should kick off today. Take action, now. Get through with the valley of indecision and climb over the mountain of accomplishment.
Today is tomorrow; tomorrow is today!
Today is what tomorrow will be; tomorrow is what today is. So, forget tomorrow; all you’ve got in concrete terms is today. No one will celebrate you for what you will do tomorrow. Tomorrow counts, but it ticks today. If you don’t write a paragraph today, you won’t have a chapter tomorrow.
Let me tell you about Douglas Adams, a famous writer. For ten years he promised his publisher delivery of his manuscript The Salmon of Doubt but kept putting off writing the script and died even before completing a first draft.
You might say yours is not as bad, but it might be heading that way.
Success is tomorrow’s work today, not today’s work tomorrow.
Twenty four years waiting
In Smokies’ hit song, “Living Next Door to Alice.” The lyrics say in part,
“Twenty-four years waiting for a chance to tell her how I feel…”
By the time this amazingly patient procrastinator realized it, it was twenty-four years and Alice had gone off with another man. The song continues:
“Now I’ve got to get use to not living next door to Alice.”
This part of the song is terrifyingly true: every procrastinator will ultimately have to get used to living next door to nothing.
Reasons for procrastination
1. Fear of the unknown. If you fear the unknown, you have no right to hope for a future, which is equally unknown.
2. Fear of failure. It is fear that leads to failure. Face life like the victor Christ has made you.
3. Fear of success. Some people fear the responsibility that comes with success, forgetting that failure is a grave and disastrous liability.
4. Thinking you have all the time in the world. You don’t; once you’ve lost a day, you have handicapped a week.
5. Distractiveness. Lack of focus and the tendency to engage in many endeavors at the same time can throw you into the arms of procrastination; consequently, never accomplishing any of your set goals.
How to overcome procrastination
1. Set clear realizable goals. Targets that are unclear are unrealizable, and will breed frustration and resentment.
2. Organize. Get all or most of what you need to finish your task before you start.
3. Prioritize. Don’t major on the minor. Do what is most imperative first and do those with less consequence later.
4. Focus. Insist on finishing one task before you take on another.
5. Set a deadline. Fix a timeline and enforce it. Make the commitment.
6. Face up to every task. Be bold and fearless. You can succeed and live with it.
He succeeds not who puts off success until another day;
once you’ve lost a day, you have handicapped a week!
Acts 24:24-27
And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
and as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, go thy way for this time; when i have a convenient season, i will call for thee.
He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him.
but after two years porcius festus came into Felix' room: and Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left paul bound.
A governor named Felix heard Paul preach the gospel and trembled concerning the impending judgment the apostle spoke of. “Go away for the present; when I have a convenient opportunity, I will send for you,” the governor said. This is procrastination.
Procrastination simply means to keep postponing, or putting things off often indefinitely.
Procrastination is often described as the grave in which opportunity is buried. Procrastinators like Felix are usually presented great opportunities but alleged they are waiting for ideal conditions, perfect timing, and so on. The truth is there is no such thing as an ideal condition or perfect timing.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 says: “He that observes the wind shall not sow; and he that regarded the clouds shall not reap.”
A Kenyan proverb says, “A good plan today is better than a perfect one tomorrow”.
Do you have a project? Fix a deadline and enforce it. A goal without a time limit is a dead dream. Know that success always rises up to meet the man who does today what others are thinking of doing tomorrow.
Leornado Da Vinci’s story gives us a portrait of a procrastinator: the painter never finished a project on time and a number of his works were unfinished when he died. The Last Supper was only finished after his patron threatened to cut off all funding. Mona Lisa took twenty years to complete. The Adoration of the Magi, an early painting, was never finished and his equestrian projects were never built. So much around him was half-completed that he appealed to God, “Tell me if anything ever was done.”
NO ONE KNOWS TOMMOROW
Scripture says, Today is the day of salvation, and now is the hour! A man who keeps postponing the day of salvation will soon find himself in a literal hell.
“Do not boast yourself of tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1).
I am sure you are familiar with the phrase “No one knows tomorrow”. Though it is an adage so well-worn, nonetheless it is a profound truth both as a phrasal parable about timeliness, and also the perfect paraphrase for God’s injunction against procrastination:
“How foolish it is to say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this town, and be there for a year and do business there and get wealth: When you are not certain what will take place tomorrow. What is your life? It is a mist, which is seen for a little time and then is gone” (James 4:13-14 BBE).
If you do not know what tomorrow holds, it makes no sense investing any assurances on it. Doing today what you’ve scheduled for tomorrow becomes expedient. All you’ve got in concrete terms is today; tomorrow counts, but it ticks today!
Redeem the time!
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16).
To redeem the time means to stamp a sense of urgency on everything you aim to do. Do you know most things you do today could have been done yesterday; and most you have scheduled for tomorrow could be done today and now?
Procrastination is a dead weight. At the end of the day, a procrastinator would have lost time, lost money, lost steam and lost faith. Experience has shown that that great thing you plan to do tomorrow may come too late. It would be a healing belated, an intervention ill-timed or an idea overtaken by events.
The truth is every task has its place in time, with the grace allotted for it. Once the grace is squandered, the task becomes twice as hard to accomplish. No wonder George Lorimer says,
“Putting off an easy thing makes it hard, and putting off a hard one makes it impossible.”
Don’t keep off; kick off! Don’t put off until tomorrow what you should kick off today. Take action, now. Get through with the valley of indecision and climb over the mountain of accomplishment.
Today is tomorrow; tomorrow is today!
Today is what tomorrow will be; tomorrow is what today is. So, forget tomorrow; all you’ve got in concrete terms is today. No one will celebrate you for what you will do tomorrow. Tomorrow counts, but it ticks today. If you don’t write a paragraph today, you won’t have a chapter tomorrow.
Let me tell you about Douglas Adams, a famous writer. For ten years he promised his publisher delivery of his manuscript The Salmon of Doubt but kept putting off writing the script and died even before completing a first draft.
You might say yours is not as bad, but it might be heading that way.
Success is tomorrow’s work today, not today’s work tomorrow.
Twenty four years waiting
In Smokies’ hit song, “Living Next Door to Alice.” The lyrics say in part,
“Twenty-four years waiting for a chance to tell her how I feel…”
By the time this amazingly patient procrastinator realized it, it was twenty-four years and Alice had gone off with another man. The song continues:
“Now I’ve got to get use to not living next door to Alice.”
This part of the song is terrifyingly true: every procrastinator will ultimately have to get used to living next door to nothing.
Reasons for procrastination
1. Fear of the unknown. If you fear the unknown, you have no right to hope for a future, which is equally unknown.
2. Fear of failure. It is fear that leads to failure. Face life like the victor Christ has made you.
3. Fear of success. Some people fear the responsibility that comes with success, forgetting that failure is a grave and disastrous liability.
4. Thinking you have all the time in the world. You don’t; once you’ve lost a day, you have handicapped a week.
5. Distractiveness. Lack of focus and the tendency to engage in many endeavors at the same time can throw you into the arms of procrastination; consequently, never accomplishing any of your set goals.
How to overcome procrastination
1. Set clear realizable goals. Targets that are unclear are unrealizable, and will breed frustration and resentment.
2. Organize. Get all or most of what you need to finish your task before you start.
3. Prioritize. Don’t major on the minor. Do what is most imperative first and do those with less consequence later.
4. Focus. Insist on finishing one task before you take on another.
5. Set a deadline. Fix a timeline and enforce it. Make the commitment.
6. Face up to every task. Be bold and fearless. You can succeed and live with it.
He succeeds not who puts off success until another day;
once you’ve lost a day, you have handicapped a week!
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