Live Free with Josh Howerton - Tips from a Recovering Procrastinator | Ep. 309 | Thursday, April 11, 2024

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

Procrastination may feel like a small sin, but it can cause big problems. It prevents us from loving well and damages relationships. Where have you seen this happen in your life? Stop making excuses. Face your fears. Establish a plan. Trade relief for victory. Start today. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.combe. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what is up? Hope you're having a great week. Thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive. We are here Monday through Friday for just a few minutes, diving into God's Word and trying to apply some of his wisdom to our lives. I'm Mike Bro, and we've been talking about the fatal four, not the final four, but the fatal four, four deadly enemies that want to take us out. We've talked about pride. We talked about anger. We talked about envy. And yesterday we introduced procrastination to, the mix, the number four seed in my bracket. We did a little honest personal self-reflection to see if that whole, I'll do it tomorrow mindset might be a problem area for us. And we talked about how

things like indecision and perfectionism and fear and control and just plain laziness can be at the root of all that. And in the same way that envy is kind of subtle, you know, seems like a lesser sin. We tend to brush this one off. Begaying the consequences are not very life-giving. It just compounds your problems. Proverse 1519 says a lazy person has trouble all through life. When we put off things thinking it'll get easier later on or maybe even go away, problems occur. I mean, doesn't it seem like some people just have all the bad luck? Now I'm not talking about tragedy, but just a series of like one mishap after another and you feel really sorry for them. But then with a little careful inspection into their life, you often find procrastination at the root of

many of their troubles. When we let things just go, the problems only get worse. When you put off studying for a test, so you can go to a football game, you really need to do well on this test since you put off doing the last paper till 3 o'clock in the morning before it was due, and you got a really low grade on it, and now you know you're going to bomb this test and you're in danger of failing this class and stress is killing you, you're afraid, so what do you do? You try to get the answers, start to cheat, you ruin your reputation, you get suspended, you disappoint your parents, You tarnish your witness for God, and the girl you're trying to impress as a football game doesn't even like you anymore. And it all happened because you decide it, just to put it all off.

You see how it progresses? Do I need to give any illustration about changing the oil in your car? It just compounds the problem, and it hurts other people. 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 8. It says if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, He has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever Denied the faith

I think just means when you say I'm not going to live like Jesus asked me to live I'm not going to live my life with passion not going to live it with purpose, character discipline, compassion and a strong work ethic and as a result those around us

they suffer physically, financially emotionally and spiritually procrastination prevents us from being loving. We don't have the energy to work on relationships. It's just easier to be lazy than loving. I have watched marriages break up because there was just too much effort to go to counseling, too much effort to read a book,

too much effort through the homework, too much effort to get in a small group. Besides, if I wait, it'll get better, and it never does. Well, let's go to the whiteboard, let's draw up some place, and let's get on the solution side of this thing. Number one, stop making excuses. Stop making excuses. That's what the Holy Spirit said to me.

Ben Franklin once said, people that are good at making excuses are rarely good at anything else. Proverbs 2213 says, lazy people are full of excuses. You ever notice how other people make excuses, but we have reasons? procrastinators become defensive, professional rationalizers.

And you know what rationalize means, right? Rational lies, right? When you feel an excuse coming on, just stop and call it what it is. He said, you know what? I was lazy. I was undisciplined. I was unprepared. I was unorganized.

I was ill-equipped. I got distracted by something else I would honestly rather do. I got no excuse. I need some help here. The second thing you've got to do is face your fears. Face your fears. Psychologists tell us that we have been born with two and eight fears, the fear of falling, and the fear of loud noises, which tells me that all the rest are learned fears,

which also tells me they can be unlearned fears. As a recovering procrastinator, I had to identify two kinds of fear. The fear of failure, the whole, what if I fall flat on my face, what if it's not good enough fear, and the fear of success. If I do this really well,

they're going to ask me to do it again. And then I'll have to maintain this level of excellence, and I'm not sure. I want to be a high achiever. So fear paralyzes us, identify it, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you. you face it. 2 Timothy 2.7 reminds us for God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity,

but a power, love, and self-discipline. When the spirit of God is in you, you can face your fears and you can start living today. Number three, establish a plan. I want to get real practical here. Buy a calendar. Get a day planner. Get a smart watch, smartphone, get a do list, a stop doing list, a budget, some administrative help in your life. Be humble enough to delegate some of the things you really aren't skilled at anyway. My wife Debbie does all the financial stuff in our household. I used to do that early on, but I had to humbly admit. I wasn't very good at it, and she was so much better. She keeps us on track. Proverbs 13, 16 says, a wise person plans ahead. A fool doesn't. I mean, the old adage is true, you know, fail to plan, plan to fail. I want to suggest that if you

are overwhelmed, then block out some time, put it in writing, take a quiet day away in the presence of God and just map out your life mission ask questions like these and put them down on paper what do I want to accomplish what are my priorities what are my core values what are my gifts how do I define success what are some immediate things I could do that would make a big difference get a plan number four trade relief for victory trade relief for victory procrastinators often trading the feeling of accomplishment from one of who man I'm glad that is over Any athlete will tell you, when you put the pain before the pleasure, sure, it's tougher, but the victory is much, much sweeter.

So put some disciplines into your life that will help you feel the thrill of finishing on time, the thrill of a job well done. You know, I preach almost every week of the year, and I love it. And I've had other pastors say to me, bro, I don't know why you work so hard on your messages. I just get up and let the spirit move me, and I tell him, well, so do I. Plus, I let him move me on Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I just want to build that discipline into my formerly undisciplined life so that I can glorify

a guy with the gift he entrusted to me. It used to be very, very stressful, but these days, man, it's a great feeling to be about a month ahead of all the teaching that I'm doing. Galatians 6-9 reminds us, don't get tired of doing what's good, don't get discouraged and give up for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. One last thing. Can I encourage you this way? Start today. For too many people, it's like Pharaoh. I'm just going to spend, there's just one more night with the frogs. It's always tomorrow. I'll get serious about building my marriage tomorrow. I'll get serious about caring from my body tomorrow. I'll address my addiction

tomorrow. I'll go to counseling tomorrow. I'll work through the unfinished business with my parents tomorrow. I'll plug into my kids' life tomorrow. You know, I'll set up a workable budget tomorrow, I'll grow spiritually tomorrow, I'll get involved in a ministry tomorrow, it's always tomorrow. Moses said to Pharaoh, you don't have to live with the frogs anymore, but Pharaoh had learned to tolerate a frog-saturated life, and it's not a great life. There's not much joy in that, but he can survive and he actually preferred it to the humility that would be required, and he said, I'll just wait till tomorrow. Let me ask you, have you gotten used to living that kind of life? We're living with the frog.

The stress, the clutter, the anxiety, the fear, the pressure has just gotten normal to you? I know from experience that it's easier to settle into those old self-defeating patterns that fit like a comfortable old pair of shoes instead of slipping on a new pair and walking God's way. But you've got to do it. We got one life, and man, it is short like a fog, and we're not guaranteed. Tomorrow, it's why the writer of Hebrew says, today, you must have to be. listen to his voice. Don't harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled. When God calls today and we don't respond today, we get a little harder on the inside. Gang, today is all we got.

So let's get after this today. Now I know that this one doesn't seem as big a deal as pride, anger, and envy. And some of you even scoff that I would put this in the fatal four, but I'm telling you it's a big deal. So ask the Holy Spirit to help you start making some practical changes and follow his leads so you can live the kind of life. Jesus called life to the full. You know that little rhyme we started with about procrastination? I rewrote it. Procrastination is my sin. It causes me delay. I know that I should give it up. I think I will today. Have a great day. Live it to the full. Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship,

join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com. Church slash daily drive.