by Kevin Burton
Twice on Page 7 I have taken a light-hearted look at procrastination, in essence winking at the practice.
No real harm if all we’re talking about is cleaning out the garage.
In the spiritual realm however, putting off important decisions can go from the comedic to the tragic. And there is no more important decision than what to do with this Jesus Christ that so many people talk about.
Perhaps you’ve heard the saying that the devil’s favorite lie to tell men is not “there is no heaven” or “there is no hell,” but “there is no hurry.”
This is the subject of a recent message from Alistair Begg, speaker on the Truth For Life radio ministry. He points to Proverbs 24:33-34 (NKJV), “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; So shall your poverty come like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.”
“The worst of sluggards only ask for a little slumber; they would be indignant if they were accused of complete laziness,” Begg writes. “A little folding of the hands to rest is all they desire, and they have a host of reasons to show that this indulgence is entirely legitimate.”
“Yet by these ‘littles’ the day runs out and the time for work is all gone and the field is overgrown with thorns.”
“It is by little procrastinations that men ruin their souls,” Begg writes. “They do not intend to delay for years. A few months they say, will bring the more convenient season. Tomorrow they will attend to serious things. But the present time is so occupied and so unsuitable that they beg to be excused.”
There are people putting up decorations, shopping on Amazon, baking sugar cookies, cleaning the spare bedroom, all in preparation for Christmas, who will not live to see Christmas. We know this by statistical probability.
There are but two possible destinations for such people, heaven and hell. This we know from the Bible.
Now there is nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas, nothing wrong with any number of other routine tasks that we face in the course of a given week.
But what am eternal tragedy is the life so cluttered with turkey and dressing that it never meets the Lamb of God. First things must come first, for your eternal destination is at stake.
“Like sands from an hourglass, time passes, life is wasted by driblets, seasons of grace lost by little slumbers,” Begg writes.
“Oh to be wise, to catch the fleeting hour, to use the passing moments! May the Lord teach us this sacred wisdom, because otherwise a poverty of the worst kind awaits us – eternal poverty that will want even a drop of water and beg for it in vain.”
“Like a robber steadily pursuing his victim, poverty overtakes the lazy, and ruin overthrows the undecided,” Begg writes. “Each hour brings the dreaded pursuer nearer; he doesn’t pause on the way, for he is on his master’s business and must not delay.”
Just now on one of my musicians’ groups on Facebook, someone posed the question: Who is the greatest frontman in history.
Someone answered, “Jesus.”
This made me laugh out loud. On some level you may consider this blasphemous. But what it is, is a little commercial. A little inducement for someone out there, somewhere, to pause from considering rock and roll history, long enough to answer the question, “what do I do with Jesus?”
Maybe you have years to decide. Maybe you have but a few hours.
“As an armed man enters with authority and power, in similar fashion want will come to the idle, and death to the impenitent, and there will be no escape,” Begg writes. “Oh that men would become wise and would diligently seek the Lord Jesus, before the solemn day will dawn when it will be too late to plow and to sow, too late to repent and believe. In harvest, it is useless to lament that the seedtime was neglected.”
“As of now, there is still time for faith and holy decision. May we obtain them tonight.”
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