Christian Living

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December 10, 2011 – Does Tomorrow Ever Come?

8 Then Esther said, My petition and my request is: If I have found favor in the sight of the king to grant my petition and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the dinner that I shall prepare for them; and I will do tomorrow as the king has said. – Esther 5:8 AMP

Esther’s story is one of courage. She risked her life and went before the king without invitation. Her cousin, Mordecai, had discovered a plot by Haman, the king’s top advisor and likely a close friend, to kill every Jew in the kingdom of Persia. What was Esther’s solution? Have the king and Haman over for dinner. At this meal, she could reveal Haman for the wicked man he was. However, when time came, she didn’t expose Haman. Why? Maybe she was scared. Maybe the bread had been burned. Whatever happened, she invited them back the next day for an additional meal at which time she would reveal all. The next day the Jews were saved from annihilation as Haman’s plot was uncovered. This story is not only a great story today for Christians, but it’s great for society as well. However, the sad truth is that for many people in this world, tomorrow never arrives.

Our society has become one of procrastination. Everything is put off until the last possible minute. Busy schedules are blamed. People are overworked. Christians have to be at church. Traffic jams cause delays. Children are even blamed for participating in extracurricular activities their parents signed them up for. The truth is that procrastination is no one’s fault except the procrastinator. If you are one, be honest with yourself. You decide what you are going to do when you want to do it.

I remember when I was a child procrastinating in our family business. My father would sometimes assign me a project, and then later check my progress. My response many times would be “I’m going to do it tomorrow.” His question was “What if tomorrow doesn’t get here?” I would then fire back in my quick-witted way, “If it doesn’t, then I guess it didn’t need to be done anyway.” My father was trying to teach me the value of not procrastinating, but I was simply putting my wants before my needs. I wanted to do something else, but I needed to listen to my father in order to avoid his discipline.

Have you ever been like that? Do you postpone things to the last minute? Do you put off everything in your life? Whether you do it to your spouse, your children, your boss, or your church, it’s not an effective witness as a Christian. Look at Solomon’s words of wisdom.
28 Do not say to your neighbor, Go and come again; and tomorrow I will give it – when you have it with you. – Proverbs 3:28 AMP

4 When you vow a vow or make a pledge to God, do not put off paying it; for God has no pleasure in fools (those who witlessly mock Him). Pay what you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. – Ecclesiastes 6:4-5 AMP

It’s simple. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Don’t put it off. Sometimes we procrastinate out of severity, but God wouldn’t even have us do that. For example, I only recently finished patching and painting several imperfections in the walls of our home because we were having guests over for Thanksgiving. But earlier this week, when my son Ryley told me about a toilet in the house leaking from the floor, I fixed it before the sun went down. Both projects required attention, but only one received attention immediately.

God would have us handle the here and now right now. Tomorrow will have more things you may try to postpone (Matthew 6:34). There are two ways you can approach tomorrow. First, you can always live with the hopes that tomorrow will be better. You can put off everything and live in the utopia you think you have created today. But it will all be a lie, and tomorrow’s needs will always be on hold until tomorrow. Tomorrow will literally never come.

Second, you can always live in today. If there’s a new project, whether at work, home, or church, that looks impossible, take the bull by the horns and get to work. Hang those lights on the Christmas tree, or take them down if you’re reading this after February 1st. Discipline your children now, because if you don’t, something else might happen with them tomorrow. Like Walt Whitman said, “seize the day!”

Do you procrastinate? Are you always finding excuses or reasons to not do something that you should have done long ago? Do you think that quality helps your witness as a Christian? Do you believe God is pleased with such behavior? There has to be a point in your life when tomorrow finally becomes today. Will you be ready like Esther was?

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