Purging Procrastination
Jonah 1:1-5, 17
A recent survey of Americans found that only 10% of Americans say they struggle with procrastination. Right! Of course 90% never got around to filling out the survey. Did you know there’s actually a Procrastinators Club of America? Formed more than 50 years ago, they have 20,000 registered members. They claim that 20 million more haven’t got around to joining yet. And their motto (I’m not making this up) is “We’re behind you all the way!” They hold a Fourth of July party every January 6th.
In the sermon series, we’ve been looking at personalities in the Bible who did a lot of things well, but struggled in one area of their life. And for God to use them, they need a conversion. In today’s Scripture, we have Jonah who struggled with procrastination. He’s not alone. Procrastination is something that many of us struggle with. There’s something in your life you know you need to do, and yet you keep putting it off. That is called procrastination. Procrastination is a spiritual issue. The Bible says that procrastination eventually leads to poverty in all areas of our life. The good news is that God wants to liberate you from procrastination.
The first thing we need to do is understand the causes of procrastination. The Bible says there are five. Any time you know what you need to do and you keep putting it off, it’s always one of these reasons. First is indecision. James 1:8 says, “The double minded man is unstable in all he does.” Whenever you have a hard time making up your mind, you’re going to procrastinate. Today, with all the choices we have in life and the store, there’s always a temptation to procrastinate. Second is perfectionism. The problem is we set such a high standard and think, ‘I can’t do that’ so we never going to begin in the first place. Third is fear. Whenever we’re afraid of something, we tend to put it off. It could be the fear of failure or even the fear of success. What if I fail or worse yet, what if I achieve it, how do I top that? Fear can keep you from making that tough phone call, scheduling that counseling appointment, sharing your faith, volunteering your talents or pursuing your dream.
Fourth is passive resistance. Procrastination is often a way of getting back at people. It’s about control. If you’re a parent, you know this. Kids do this all the time. You tell them you want them to do something and then they say, “Just a minute.” Fifth is laziness. Proverbs 13:4 says “Lazy people want much but get little.” America’s favorite word today is “easy”. You’re never going to see a best seller with the title, “Ten Incredibly Difficult Ways to Lose Weight” or “Nine Really Tough Ways to Get in Shape.” We want it easy. The myth of procrastination is that if I put it off it’ll get easier. But the truth is procrastination only makes things worse. So whenever you’re procrastinating, you need to first ask what’s the cause? For Jonah, it was his fear: fear of going into a pagan nation, fear of sharing his faith, and fear of failure that the Ninevites might not respond.
Today, I’m going ask 3 questions about your life. First, what are you doing for heaven’s sake? God created you to be in relationship with him and to fulfill His purpose. Your life is not about you, your job, your money, your wants, or your family. You’re here as a follower of Jesus to accomplish the mission of Jesus in the world. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” There are two great days in every person’s life. The first day is when you were born; and the second day is the day you discover what you were born for. When you get in touch with why God created you, you discover your call from God. Here’s how that calling looks. The first call is general and is shared by all of us. It is a call to follow Jesus Christ. You can’t even begin to discover your life purpose unless you deal with that first call. It’s at that point that you make all your life available to God, to His purpose and to become like Jesus. The second call is your unique contribution to God’s mission, utilizing your spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality and experiences all the mission and glory of God. All of us have the responsibility or call to use our unique S.H.A.P.E. to reflect the holiness or wholeness of Jesus in the world and to serve Jesus’ mission in the world.
Procrastination in any area of life comes with a cost. The Bible is very clear about the destructive consequences of procrastination. Here’s three of them: First, it wastes opportunities in life. Ephesians 5:16 says, “Make the most of every opportunity for doing good.” The way to live a joy filled life is to take every opportunity that God sends our way and make the most of it. When opportunity knocks, you open the door. I wonder how many opportunities we’ve lost because we’ve procrastinated, opportunities to make a difference in a relationship or in another person’s life or to make a difference with my life in the world?
Second, it causes problems. Proverbs 15:19 “A lazy person has trouble all through life.” Do you ever procrastinate on getting your gas tank filled up? Then the next day you run out of gas and you’re stuck and late for an appointment. Even more tragic is when someone who has procrastinated about going to the doctor. When they finally do go, they found that the cancer had spread beyond control. The fact is delaying never solves anything. It only makes things worse. The longer you wait, the harder it is. It never gets easier. It always gets harder.
Third, it hurts others. Many of us never realize procrastination at its core is unloving. Showing real love to people, that takes commitment, energy, time and hard work. When I procrastinate, I’m deciding not to commit that to the other person. That is the destructive power of procrastination. The reason why a lot of marriages fall apart is procrastination. Both people are not willing to give the effort to make it work. A lot of divorces happen when both people know what needed to be done. They delayed and didn’t have the conversation they needed to have. They didn’t take the time to be together. They didn’t get around to addressing their issues. So eventually they grew so far apart, it seemed easier to get a divorce.
So in your heaven sent priorities, what are you doing for heaven’s sake? There’s another lesson Jonah teaches us about how procrastination hurts other. It threatens their eternity. Jonah didn’t want to go to Ninevah and in so doing was saying, “Go to Hell!” When you hear God’s call, don’t look to somebody else. God created you specifically with your gifts and talents to be the answer to other people’s prayers. Can you imagine if the people who so faithfully were witnesses of Jesus in your life had said no to God? How many people’s eternal destiny would it have affected because then you were never able to influence others for Jesus? This is the problem with procrastination. What are you doing for heaven’s sake? Not your sake, not your job, your time, your interests, your money, your hobbies - what are you doing for heaven’s sake?
Here’s the second question: what does God have to do get your full attention? Look at what God had to do to get Jonah’s attention. Verse 17: “Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” God will put you in a place where he has your full attention because other people’s lives depend upon it . . . it’s not just about you. When you live a life outside of God’s purpose, it will lead to nothing but a belly full of frustration. Look where Jonah was. Have you ever been there? In the belly of a fish – it doesn’t say whale, does it? We just know it was a great fish churning gastric juices! Recognize the symptoms: life stinks; a closed-in feeling where you can’t get a foothold; you’re out of control. The fish’s agenda becomes your agenda. Wherever the fish goes you go, so you’re in this frenzied roller coaster existence. Yet God has created you for something better. But guess what? Our lives are such that He will put you in a place where you are stripped of all of your props to get your full attention. So what is God doing right now to get your attention?
Here’s the third question: what are you waiting for? Look at where Jonah goes in 2:1-3, “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.” Whoa! What a novel idea. “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me.” So how can you purge procrastination? First, stop making excuses. Stop making excuses for what you’ve been putting off. Proverbs 22:13a (LB) says, “The lazy man is full of excuses.” The people who do things with their life, who get stuff done, stop making excuses. They accept responsibility. They don’t blame others. They don’t blame circumstances. They choose to do something with their life because they stop making excuses and get on with it. What excuse are you giving for not doing what you know you need to do? Second, ask God for help. If you find yourself procrastinating in an area or issue in your life, ask God for help. Why? Because procrastination in any area of your life is a spiritual problem. Procrastination is a cancer that will consume your whole life. It will affect your relationships, your job, your marriage and your faithfulness to God’s will in your life. Third, master your moods. Attitude is everything when it comes to procrastination. It’s attitude that gets you in the slump in the first place. It’s your moods that manipulate you and cause you to put off what you know would be the right thing to do. Your moods go through eight stages of procrastination.
1. “I’ll start early this time.” That’s hopefulness.
2. “I’ve got to start soon.” You start to feel a little bit of tension.
3. “I should have started sooner.” You start to feel a little creeping guilt
4. “There’s still time to do it.” That’s false reassurance.
5. “What’s wrong with me?” Desperation starts to set in.
6. “I can’t wait any longer.” Now you’re getting to the stage of intense pain.
7. “Just get it done.” Stressed out and feeling burdened, you finally act.
8. “Next time I’ll start earlier.”
And the cycle repeats itself. If you’re going to learn to break free from procrastination you must learn to master your moods. You cannot be manipulated by your emotions and feelings. Most of what gets done in the world is by people who didn’t feel like doing it when they did it. If I only taught you when I felt like it, I’d quit right now. The fact is you have to do things you don’t feel like doing. You must master your moods. Philippians 4:13 “There is nothing I cannot master with the help of Christ who gives me strength.”
Fourth, set a deadline and schedule it. Proverbs 13:16 says, “A wise man plans ahead but a fool doesn’t.” The best intentions aren’t good enough. We say, “I’ll do it when I have time for it.” You never have time for it. You have to make time for it. If you just think, “I’m going to do it someday,” days turn into weeks. Set a deadline. Write it down on your schedule. If you don’t schedule it, you’ll never do it. Many of the projects that we procrastinate over in life, we do because they’re huge projects. So in order to make a schedule sometimes you have to break it things down into bite size pieces. Like that old phrase, How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So what do you need to schedule? What is your first step you need to take?
Fifth, get an accountability partner, someone you can be accountable to and who will help you work through this issue in your life. Don’t face this alone. Romans 1:12 “I want us to help each other with the faith that we have. Your faith will help me and my faith will help you.” That is the principle of a spiritual partner. Anything that you procrastinate on, get a partner. It is always helpful to have somebody who’s going to walk you through this as a partner.
Fifth, start now! Not next month. Not next week. Not even tomorrow. Start now. Don’t say, “I’ll do it some day.” Someday is today. Don’t say, “When things settle down.” They’re not going to settle down. Don’t say, “When I get around to it.” You’re never going to get around to it. You’ve got to do it now. There’s no time like the present.
James 4:17 from the Message paraphrase “If you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that for you is evil.” Procrastination is not some little innocent fault or shortcoming. It’s evil. It keeps you from being all that God intends you to be. That’s why procrastination is so serious. It limits your potential. It wipes out your opportunities, but most of all it presumes upon the future that you or I may not have. None of us is guaranteed a tomorrow and neither are your loved ones. Whatever God’s calling you to do with your life do it now. If you need to make a change in your life, do it now. If you need to mend fences with somebody, do it now. If you need to get started on a dream, drop a terrible habit or even get out of debt, start now. Because none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.
I want you to identify, right now, an area or issue in your life God is calling you to address and where you need His help. You know what’s right and you know what you need to do but you’ve been procrastinating. You know you need to make a change, but you’re stuck and haven’t acted on it. It is an area of your life where there might be shame, some fear and some resistance in your heart. You need to quit rationalizing, respond to the call of God and call it what it is: a spiritual problem. Just say, 'God, I can’t, but You can. I need Your help.' Today, you can make this promise to God to stop procrastinating and then turn to him to empower you to get up and act and become the person God has called you to be. Make the commitment to act on His transforming purpose for your life. In Jesus’name. Amen.
Ask them to go to a person and tell them which strategy they have chosen to purge their habit of procrastination
