SCRIPTURE: Luke 9:62 (TM)
Jesus said,
"No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't put God's kingdom off
till tomorrow. Seize the day."
STORY:
An incident from the American Revolution illustrates what
tragedy can result from procrastination. It is reported that Colonel Rahl,
commander of the British troops in Trenton, New Jersey, was playing cards when
a courier brought an urgent message stating that General George Washington was
crossing the Delaware River. Rahl put the letter in his pocket and didn't
bother to read it until the game was finished. Then, realizing the seriousness
of the situation, he hurriedly tried to rally his men to meet the coming
attack, but his procrastination was his undoing. He and many of his men were
killed and the rest of the regiment were capture.
Nolbert Quayle said, "Only a few minutes' delay cost
him his life, his honor, and the liberty of his soldiers. Earth's history is
strewn with the wrecks of half-finished plans and unexecuted resolutions.
'Tomorrow' is the excuse of the lazy and refuge of the incompetent."
OBSERVATION:
We are all guilty of putting things off, after all “Tomorrow
is only a day away.” But do those “tomorrows” ever get here? It is true that we
all live busy lives. We have accumulated more tasks and responsibilities than
we can count. Our lives are literally cluttered with so many unimportant and
unnecessary things that the important matters are seldom if ever addressed. Or
is this true only in my life?
It is painful to look back and see life’s pathway strung
with heaps of unfinished business that is too late to handle now. The list
includes phone calls never made, sympathy or get well cards never sent, small
maintenance projects never tackled which are now big problems, and the list
goes on. Procrastination is learned early and practiced until the last days of
our life.
In most situations these delays really do not matter much,
but then there are those bits of information that we should act upon immediate
that cost us dearly much like the one mentioned in the story above. If the
colonel would have only acted immediately the out come of the war might have
been different. Who knows?
Such is the issues surrounding the Kingdom of God. The
saddest news shared with a pastor is, “Oh, pastor, I will wait until tomorrow
to make that decision. I’ve still got some living to do before I give myself
over to Christ.” Too often the day of decision never arrives. Truly we each
need to seize the day, act upon our hearts decision now and turn our lives over
to the Lord.
Oh, by the way, that decision is not a once-in-a-life-time
decision, but it is a daily and often is an hourly decision as one situation
after another comes our way. As a great old gentleman use to say to me at
First, Gainesville: “It is Seize the Moment, preacher, Seize the Moment.”
PRAYER:
Nudge us hard when we start putting the important decisions
off. Nudge us hard!
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