Procrastination is a problem that plagues us all from time to time.  However, with some people, procrastination becomes a deterrent to success in both the physical and the spiritual realm.  It is one thing to put off doing something that has little significance in one’s life, but it is something else altogether when one puts off something that has lasting consequences, especially something that has to do with the soul.  The Bible encourages us to avoid procrastination.  How does it do that?  There are two things the Bible encourages us to do that will help us to avoid procrastination.

First, it encourages us to be diligent.  Peter said, “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith…” (2 Peter 1:5 ).   The Greek word for diligence is spoudē (Strong) and means to be filled with eagerness or earnestness.  It points to doing something with haste.  The Greek word means speed.  So, Peter is encouraging us not to procrastinate.  Instruction to be diligent is not rare in the New Testament.  Five verses later Peter gives such instruction again, this time about making our election sure.

2 Peter 1:10 (ESV)
¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

Serving God, then, is something that we should do diligently, that is, with energetic application.  No one should have to talk you into attending every service of the local church.  You should do it because you enjoy serving God, and you want to do it.  You should study the Bible regularly and pray often because those things help you serve God better.  The one thing that can stop you from studying and praying, and, ultimately, serving God in general, is procrastination.

Procrastination is as much a mindset as it is an action.  We sometimes must war against ourselves in order not to procrastinate.  We have to talk ourselves into doing something now instead of putting it off.  Remember, Paul said, “Now is the favorable time.”  When it comes to engaging in spiritual activities, usually now is as good a time as any.

Paul’s statement is doing more than just telling us that there will probably be no better time to serve God than now.  It is telling us, now might be the only time that we have.  The time will come when God will no longer be offering us the grace to serve Him.  That time will be when either we die, or Christ comes back, and the truth is, we cannot be sure when either of those events are going to happen.  That is why the best time to serve God is now.  Procrastination must be avoided.

Second, the Bible encourages us not to be slothful (lazy), something that is pretty much the opposite of diligent.

Proverbs 12:24 (ESV)
²⁴ The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.

Matthew 25:25–27 (ESV)
²⁵ So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ ²⁶ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.

Romans 12:11–12 (ESV)
¹¹ Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Laziness has stopped many people from taking advantage of the favorable time that God has given us to serve Him.  Many have died in sin just because they have been slothful rather than diligent in carrying out God’s commands.  Sometimes people even forsake the assembling of the saints because they would rather just sit on the couch and watch their favorite television program. It is laziness that stops them from doing what is right, and it is laziness that will cost them their souls.

Paul not only said that now is the favorable time, but he also said that now is the day of salvation.  We don’t know about tomorrow, but we have right now.  Do not allow procrastination to cost you your soul.