My Deepest, Darkest, Worst Bad Habit

It's My deepest, darkest, worst bad habit....I'm a Procrastinator.

Are you a Procrastinator like Me? I'm a professional procrastinator. You wouldn't believe all of the things I can get done and the projects I can start, when I'm trying to avoid doing something I really don't want to do! (If you're a procrastinator, you're nodding your head right now. If not, you just think I'm crazy!)

If you have a problem with procrastination, your actual problem is a time problem. I bought a book on Procrastination a couple of months ago. It was a very helpful book. I discovered that Procrastinators have issues with judging time. Either they underestimate how long a task is going to take and so they don't start the task soon enough or they overestimate how long a task is going to take and they feel overwhelmed and never start. It was a great book. I read most of it...but I never got around to finishing it ...because...well, you know.

Procrastinating is all about wasting time...putting off for later what you should be doing now.  I don't like to think that I have wasted something. To know that you have wasted money or effort or energy is not a good feeling. Yet, nothing feels worse to me than to know that I have wasted my time. When I think of years of my life that I wasted doing things I should not have been doing and not doing the things I should have been doing...it makes me feel sick inside. Wasted time is a wasted opportunity. The more I think about wasted time and opportunity, the longer the list of regrets gets...not finishing grad school,  not losing weight sooner, not really getting serious about studying the Word of God until I went through a life crisis a few years ago, putting up with things I should not have, not standing up for myself or demanding better treatment when I should have...Its a horrible feeling to feel like you wasted your time and squandered your opportunities!

The good news is that God's Word tell us He can redeem our time. Our time is in God's hands. The Bible says that God will restore to us the years that the locust has eaten and that we can take back what the enemy has stolen from us. I'm on a mission to take back what has been stolen from me and that includes my time! The Bible also says that our youth can be renewed! Isaiah 40:29-31 says, "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint."  In Ecclesiastes, the Bible says that everything is beautiful "in its own time". So, I'm claiming that verse for me! My time is coming!

One of the greatest ways that the devil deceives people is through time. The devil wants sinners to think they have all the time in the world. Many people know that they are not saved and will admit that they need to be saved, but say to themselves "not now, some other time" or "One day, when the time is right". If you have not asked Jesus Christ into your heart and asked forgiveness for your sins, the time is NOW!  The Bible says "TODAY is the day of salvation.". When it comes to salvation, there is no time like the present! No one is promised tomorrow or even their next breath. The devil convinces people that they have plenty of time to get their heart right with God. People will say that they will commit their life to Christ when they are older or when they "get some things straight". The first step in getting your life straight is asking God for forgiveness and getting your heart straight!

The devil wants Christians to think that they do not have enough time. He tries to convince Christians that they cannot develop a daily prayer and Bible study time, because they are "too busy and don't have the time". If you are thinking of joining a ministry or doing a Christian act of service to help someone, the devil will try his best to convince you that you don't have the time. Many people say they do not get involved in ministries of the church because they "don't have the time". Some say they cannot attend church regularly on Sundays because that is "family time" or "rest time" or "my only time to sleep in".

If you have wasted years of your life not serving God or making poor decisions, don't beat yourself up! Commit the time that you have left to the Lord and ask him to redeem your time and to show you the most effective use of your time.

Any time you have and every breath you breathe came from God. Consider how you can use your time to bring Him honor today