Procrastination in Christian preaching highlights the spiritual danger of delaying obedience to God's call, which can result in missed opportunities and diminished readiness for service (Ecclesiastes 11:4). Illustrations often use the imagery of lost time or withered opportunities to emphasize the urgency of acting faithfully and promptly (James 4:17).
Delaying obedience makes one less fit for God's purposes, losing golden opportunities.
In Nebuchadnezzar's image, the lower the members, the coarser the metal; the farther off the time, the more unfit. To-day is the golden opportunity; to-morrow will be the silver season; next day but the brazen one; and so on, till at last I shall come but to the toes of clay, and be turned to dust. T. Fuller.
Rejecting God's light leads to spiritual blindness and a hardened heart.
One who resists light of divine testimony shuts himself up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart. Pharaoh had light but shut his eyes to it, therefore God hardens his heart
Ignoring small duties daily leads to eventual ruin, like neglecting a squeaky latch.
It is said that a man threatened to oil a latch every day for forty years. Its squeaking every day appealed to his memory, but he died without doing it. This was much like the man who did not mend his roof in fair weather because then it did not leak.
Delaying repentance risks losing the golden opportunity for salvation.
In Nebuchadnezzar's image, the lower the members, the coarser the metal: the farther off the time, the more unfit. To-day is the golden opportunity, to-morrow will be the silver season, next day but the brazen one, and so on, till at last I shall come to the toes of clay, and be turned to dust.— Thomas Fuller.
Sin blinds people to their one life, causing fatal procrastination in turning to God.
Be not like the foolish drunkard who, staggering home one night, saw his candle lit for him. "Two candles!" said he, for his drunkenness made him see double, "I will blow out one," and as he blew it out, in a moment he was in the dark. Many a man sees double through the drunkenness of sin; he has one life to sow his wild oats in, and then he half expects another in which to turn to God; so, like a fool, he blows out the only candle that he has, and in the dark he will have to lie down for ever. Haste thee, traveller, thou hast but one sun, and after that sets, thou wilt never reach thy home. God help thee to make haste now!
Ignoring impending danger parallels delaying repentance despite certain judgment.
Edinburgh Review, "describes a village, situated on the slope of a great mountain, of which the strata shelve in the direction of the place. Huge crags, directly overhanging the village, and massy enough to sweep the whole of it into the torrent below, have become separated from the main body of the mountain in the course of ages by great fissures, and now scarce adhere to it. When they give way, the village must perish; it is only a question of time, and the catastrophe may happen any day. For years past engineers have been sent to measure the width of the fissures, and report them constantly increasing. The villagers, for more than one generation, have been aware of their danger; subscriptions have been once or twice opened to enable them to remove; yet they live on in their doomed dwellings, from year to year, fortified against the ultimate certainty and daily probability of destruction by the common sentiment; 'Things may last their time and longer."'
Delaying acceptance of God's rescue leads to eternal loss.
Do any of you remember the loss of the vessel called the "Central America"? She was in a bad state, had sprung a leak and was going down, and she therefore hoisted a signal of distress. A ship came close to her, the captain of which asked, through the trumpet, "What is amiss?" "We are in bad repair, and are going down: lie by till morning," was the answer. But the captain on board the rescue-ship said, "Let me take your passengers on board now." "Lie by till morning," was the message which came back. Once again the captain cried, "You had better let me take your passengers on board now." "Lie by till morning," was the reply which sounded through the trumpet. About an hour-and-a-half after, the lights were missing, and though no sound was heard, she and all on board had gone down to the fathomless abyss. O unconverted friends, for God's sake, do not say, "Lie by till morning." To-day, even to-day, hear ye the voice of God.
Procrastination leads to loss and regret, illustrating the danger of delaying important actions.
See EXCLUSION FROM HEAVEN.
PROCRASTINATION
He meant to insure his house, but it burned before he got around to it.
He was just going to pay a note when it went to protest.
He was just going to help his neighbor when he died.
He was just going to send flowers to a sick friend when it proved too late.
He was just going to reduce his debt when his creditors “shut down” on him.
He was just going to stop drinking and dissipating when his health became wrecked.
He was just going to provide his wife with more help when she took her bed and required a nurse, a doctor and a maid.--_Success Magazine._
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