"This is the perplexing thing
about procrastination: although it
seems to involve avoiding unpleasant
tasks, indulging in it generally
doesn't make people happy."
That quote is by American journalist
James Surowiecki. His
statement is true, isn't it?
Procrastination is a pain. A student
sits down to finally write that
term paper but finds himself surfing
the internet instead. A person
wants to exercise regularly, but it's
much easier to start that plan
tomorrow. A Christian sees the
need to talk to a loved one who is
caught in a sin, to try to lead the
person to repentance, but delaying
the difficult talk is easier.
There is no delay in Jesus.
"Now the Son of Man is glorified,"
he says. "God will glory the Son in
himself, and will glorify him at
once." Why now? Why at once? It
helps to know the background.
Our reading begins with the
words "When he was gone." That
refers to Judas. Jesus told Judas
that what he was about to do, he
better do quickly. So Judas left.
The sound of the door shutting
behind the betrayer was like the
sound of a clock, chiming the
hour for Christ to fulfill his purpose,
a purpose that had been
given to him before the world
began. His purpose was to suffer,
excruciatingly, for humankind.
Yet he didn't flinch. He was willing
now that his time had come.
Why now? Why at once? The
answer is love. As Judas left to
sell Jesus, Jesus knew that he
was about to buy us with his own
blood. Procrastination can be a
sin, when we put off the good
things we know we should be
doing. If it shocks you that procrastination
can be sin, let it be a
happy shock to you that this is
just another sin of yours that has
been blotted out by the urgent
love of God the Father and the
Son. The Father marched his Son
toward Calvary, at once. Christ
seized the day. Good Friday, to
make us his own.
Why do we procrastinate? To
put off a difficult thing. Thankfully,
the one thing truly worth
dreading has been taken out of
our lives. No punishment from
God. No wrath of God. Not now or
ever for us, thanks to Jesus.
Lord, forgive us for the good things we've put off doing. With the same
urgent love by which you saved us, work in us to seize each day to your
glory. Amen.
Bible reading: Joshua 18:11-20:9 • Psalm 46
Wikipedia:
Seize the day is the translation of the Latin saying Carpe diem.
Seize the Day may further refer to:
- "Seize the Day" (song) a song from the Broadway musical "Newsies"
- Seize the Day (album), a 2003 album by Damien Dempsey
- Seize the Day (band), a folk band from the United Kingdom
- Seize the Day (film), a 1986 film starring Robin Williams
- Seize the Day Inc., a privately held company in Las Vegas, Nevada
- Seize the Day (novel), a novel written by Saul Bellow
- "Seize the Day" (song), a 2006 single from the album City of Evil (2005) by Avenged Sevenfold
- "Seize the Day", a 2008 song from Wax Tailor (featuring Charlotte Savary) appearing in Cedric Klapisch's film Paris
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A Reader Wrote This:
"The other is from WELS's Meditations, March-May 2014, for Monday, 17 March 2014. The howler is in the second column which reads: "No matter what you did yesterday -- or failed to do -- and no matter what you will do tomorrow, God has forgiven you."
Now, try saying that and putting in a sin from the second table of the Law. Were I to say, for example, that I committed adultery yesterday and I'm going to do it tomorrow, God has forgiven me. Somehow, that doesn't make sense. Nor would it were I to say "murder" or theft" or anything other sin, "big" or "little." I'm not sure if this is an example of UOJ or just the inability to think or perhaps a combination of both -- a "bifecta"? This is the pap that is peddled in Meditations -- and remember, this is the stuff that goes unfiltered into the homes of the unsuspecting.
