Procrastination

Procrastination — the delay of what ought to be done immediately — is treated in Scripture as a particular danger in spiritual matters, since it assumes a future that God has not promised and may harden the heart against the urgency of repentance and decision. Proverbs 27:1 warns against boasting of tomorrow, "for you do not know what a day may bring." Exodus 22:29 forbids delay in offering the firstfruits, establishing the pattern that God's claims are not to be deferred. Ezekiel 11:2–3 condemned those who said "the time is not near" — a false sense of spiritual leisure in the face of judgment. In the NT, the urgency of response to the kingdom's arrival is a dominant theme: "Now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). The parable of the rich young ruler illustrates procrastination's cost — he went away sorrowful rather than deciding immediately (Matt. 19:22). Felix the governor, moved by Paul's preaching, deferred: "When I find it convenient, I will call for you" (Acts 24:25). James 4:13–14 punctures the illusion of time by asking "What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."