Like most humans, this recovering procrastinator sometimes balks at another’s authority over me. Let’s continue looking at Psalm 19:12-13 (NKJV) and the insights from Strong’s Concordance. Please read Who Can Understand? (August 17, 2015) and Trying to Understand (August 24, 2015).
“Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.
“Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless. And I shall be innocent of great transgression.”
According to this, my cleanness, freedom, innocence is related to whether or not I have sinned in God’s eyes. “Transgression” here refers to breaking away from just authority – specifically God’s to whom the psalmist is speaking.
Of course God is our highest authority, but there are people to whom we are responsible too. A counsellor once told me a prideful person is one who does not want anybody else telling him what to do. Even that can lead to procrastination – choosing my preference over God or another person to whom I am responsible.
Therefore I sometimes refuse to do what needs doing when it needs doing. “I don’t have to pick George up right at 5 p.m. I can shop a little longer.” “I’ll return those club record books when it’s more convenient. I don’t think Jane needs them now.” Or a child’s version, “I don’t have to go in until she uses my middle name!”
I want to be “free” of that authority or of that needed thing, so I choose something else. Maybe it’s a rebel heart? This decision increases my burden physically (Still gotta do it), mentally (It distracts me), emotionally (It weighs on me), and spiritually (I resisted Him).
The apparent way to freedom – my way – brings bondage. The apparent way to bondage – respecting God’s authority through obedience – brings freedom. I’d rather be ruled by our good God than by my bent to procrastinate.
Still, I will sin. That means I need the fullest cleaning, the greatest freedom which comes from Jesus’s sacrifice for me. God, looking at me through Christ, sees me as innocent. Thank you, Lord! Our God equips us by His teaching and Holy Spirit’s power. AND He provides for our failings through the cleansing blood of Christ. Hallelujah!
What helps your heart want to please God more than to procrastinate?
Ouch!! This post reminded me that pride is the basis of my procrastination! I balk at accountability and choose my preferences over God’s. Why is it so easy to reach for a book or the remote, but hard to be consistent having time with God? I want my way! Thanks for the insight this blog brings, especially now that the lazy days of Summer are over and Fall brings more opportunities to serve. I am going to seek God’s plan instead of my prideful preferences.
Update on my “paperwork plans.” I went back to your January 14 blog the other day and reread my comment about getting important papers in order. Oh, dear! I got sidetracked so I decided to bite off one little piece and accomplish that this week. Our passports had expired so if God presents the opportunity to go out of the country (like the example in this blog post) I want to have them ready. I downloaded the paperwork and found birth certificates, etc. We went for passport photos and then drove straight to the passport office and completed the process! We celebrated with lunch and commented how the day had turned into a fun “day out” for us! Now, on to the next bite!
For sure, there is “the enemy within.” As someone said in a Sunday School class, our desire to do something besides get time alone with God is probably not as benign as we’d like to think it is. Though much is understandable, it still can work against us.
But yea! Look what you did, Mary, getting your passports! Done! Plus you had fun doing it. ( I’m getting very big on having fun.) Congratulations!
Don’t you feel motivated to take the next bite?