Procrastination

When asked to write on the topic of procrastination by IGNYTE’s Web Media Team, I felt that it’s a timely reminder (more of a wake up call really) badly needed. As you can see from the opening sentence, I’m not claiming to be someone who does not procrastinate, but in actual fact, someone who is in the process of overcoming the bad habit of procrastination. Through my sharing, I hope that the people who read this entry would become, or at the very least be in the process of becoming good stewards of the time given to them.

If you do not have the habit of planning out your schedules, start doing so. If you have the habit of planning out your schedules but not sticking to it, start to. If you used to have the habit of planning your schedule but have stopped doing so, get back on track. Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be flexible when the situation calls for it (e.g. putting aside everything to take care of our loved ones when they are sick), I’m just trying to help us keep track of know our time are being used up.

It is my belief that procrastination is one of the most powerful obstructions in denying our effectiveness in the things we do because of how subtle it appears to be. Subconsciously, you’re telling yourself that you’ll do it, eventually, one way or another. In actual fact, we’re leaving things we need to do undone and allowing ourselves to be subjected to the stress of not completing the things we need to do. When we leave things close to the eleventh hour, we may inevitably sacrifice the quality of our work and shortchange ourselves and the people around us by accepting work that could have been better. Some people may say that they work well under pressure. Well, the fact is that when we’re working under pressure, we may be subjected to being short tempered and it’s often the people who are closest to us that suffer from our own lack of discipline.

When was the last time you heard a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:11-12) from within you to do something for someone? Do you know that some of the things we choose to do or not do may have ripple effects and undesirable consequences in our lives or the lives of others? It could be a simple prompting asking you to care and connect with a particular person in class or camp who is ostracized by the rest of the people, or a warning not to go to a particular place as it will lead you to sin and trouble.

For all you know, the person who is ostracized in your class or camp may be thinking of killing himself. But because you cared, you managed to bring him to Christ and saved his soul from eternal damnation. Am I sounding too extreme? I guess not, because I just heard of how one of my guys in AF successfully prevented someone he doesn’t really know from taking his own life 3 days ago. The key to his success? He obeyed the still small voice from within and acted out in faith.

As Christians, we are God’s children and we have the ability to hear His voice (John 10:27) but we are also given the free will to act upon hearing or disregarding it totally. To obey is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22), it’s easy to understand but challenging to carry out. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I’m Brother Kelvin. I’m God’s child and I’m still faced with the challenge of obeying Him all the time, but I believe that I’ll be living an exciting life if I choose not to procrastinate and act upon hearing His still small voice. Would you choose to do the same?

- Bro Kelvin

2:01 AM
(SALVATION)