Many
people postpone obedience or decide to wait till later to obey God's word. What
consequences may follow from procrastination?Many
people postpone obedience or decide to wait till later to obey God's word. What
consequences may follow from procrastination?Are you doing the things you know you should be doing in God’ s service? Many people know they should begin a life of service to God, or they know they should overcome certain sins in their life, but they decide to wait until later. There are only two possibilities for these people: either they will obey God someday, or else they will never obey God. In either case, the Bible teaches that they will be sorry for postponing their obedience.
First, suppose a person postpones obeying God, but then later he obeys and is forgiven. Consider what must happen for him to be forgiven. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation…” The only way for this person to be forgiven of the sins he has continued committing, is to be truly sorry for them. Does it make sense to keep doing something when you know that later on you will be sorry and wish you had never done it?
On the other hand, the other possible alternative is that a person may delay his obedience so long that he never obeys. 1 Timothy 4:2 says that sin can sear a man’s conscience so he no longer desires to obey. Luke 12:20 mentions a man who planned to live many years in pleasure, but he died that night! 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 tells us that Jesus will come suddenly and unexpectedly. What will happen to us if we die or if Jesus comes while we are still postponing our obedience to God? Hebrews 10:26-31 answers this question. It shows that, if we know the truth but we continue practicing sin, the only thing we can look forward to is vengeance and fiery indignation from God.
So if a person postpones obeying God but is later forgiven, he must be sorry for having postponed his obedience. But if he is never forgiven, he will regret it for all eternity. Either way he will be sorry! Does it make sense to continue practicing something when we know we will be sorry for it?
(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 2019; gospelway.com
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Scripture quotations are generally from the New King James Version (NKJV), copyright 1982, 1988 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. used by permission. All rights reserved.