About half an hour into scrolling through amusing but irrelevant reels, my eyes glaze over, and my brain feels numb. When I look up from my phone, a familiar feeling creeps up on me: frustration. Once again, I’ve wasted more than 30 minutes watching clips of AI-generated babies making ridiculously incisive and somewhat inappropriate comments. Ugh. What I haven’t done is tackle my long to-do list or the writing project that sits forlornly forgotten in my Google Docs.

Recently, I’ve allowed distraction — particularly digital distraction, but also things as inane as rummaging through drawers for candy— to lead me to entertaining, but distinctly unhelpful, rabbit trails. Unless a non-negotiable deadline looms right around the corner, I allow myself to meander down those rabbit trails and slip down Alice-in-Wonderland-like holes.

But this is not merely a confession of complacency. Nor is it an online life coaching session. I’m sure you can find many helpful YouTube videos about how to stop procrastinating (which, you can watch while procrastinating on a project. Obviously). This is simply a biblical perspective that I find helpful in countering procrastination. 

While many argue that productivity is the key to ending procrastination, can we, as believers, consider a different angle? What if we were so certain of our purpose that it ignited a passion strong enough to overcome procrastination?

What do I mean?

When I truly grasp that God graciously, undeservedly, and generously gives me certain resources, I will long to use those gifts to lift up His name. I will realize that my purpose is not to pander to my ego, but to glorify God. I will stop seeing myself as the sole proprietor of resources. Instead, when I see myself as an undeserving recipient of resources, my purpose gets sharper — and my grip on procrastination is loosened. 

In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), the third servant fits the profile of the ‘perfect procrastinator.’ He knows it will be a while before the master of the house comes back. So he puts his feet up (after burying the treasure). He is woefully uninterested in pleasing the master. In contrast, the other two servants get to work immediately. They know the talents (or money) don’t belong to them. They see themselves as stewards whose primary role is to make the master proud.

Who do you identify with? If it’s servant three, the ‘perfect procrastinator,’ you’re not alone. But God gives us the power to change. It starts with a fresh perspective where our thinking is not conformed to the world’s idea of controlling our possessions. Instead, we renew our minds with the biblical concept of stewarding well what God has entrusted to us. We steward our time, talents, and treasures well because we know our purpose of glorifying God. As we align with that purpose, we become passionate to use what He has given us well. 

Could I encourage us today to fix our eyes on Jesus, the master of the house, who will return one day? We don’t cower in fear, but we look forward in anticipation. We are like the eight-year-old whose dad will be back after work. The child can’t wait to show his dad what he’s done with the LEGO set his dad has given him. He’s not going to postpone that project because he is keen to please his father.

May we pray for a firmer grasp of what stewardship truly means. May we long to please God with every resource that He has placed in our hands. May we stop procrastinating because we’ve discovered our purpose and our passion in using our resources well. 

 

 

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