We all will change our calendars tomorrow. Yes, that will be an easy task. However, making changes in our lives that need changing won’t be so easy. Will you make the changes or put it off. Folks change is possible. I think our problem with New Years’ resolutions is that they put us in an aggressive effort obsessed in the flesh with outcomes of success and failure.
True story- it is told of an unemployed cleaning woman who noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. There were only a few, so she kept delaying to take action. Over the summer the bees continued to fly in and out of her attic vent while this woman procrastinated. The attic was becoming a growing city of bees. The whole attic became a huge bee-hive, and eventually the ceiling of the second-floor bedroom crashed in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands of angry bees. The woman escaped serious injury however she was unable to repair the damage caused by her procrastination.
Procrastination will almost always cost you something. What does it mean to procrastinate? – It means to put off, delay, postpone, adjourn, dally, drag your feet, defer. There is no positive definition of this word. We often put things off until tomorrow what we ought to do today or need to do right now! New Years’ resolutions are all about change. Changes we need to make an often wait until it has cost us something we were not willing to pay!
I. Procrastination is the Enemy of Change.

1. Solomon gave a wonderful Proverb on acting now not later in chapter 6. He wrote 3,000 proverbs, several songs, and he wrote books on biology and botany and so he was a man who was very familiar with nature. Nature speaks to us about proper timing. He is saying don’t put things off; do it now! Don’t rest until you make the choice to do it. Spare yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.

In today contemporary language; get out of that addiction now! Don’t keep in that immoral act or relationship, stop that habit that you know is ruining your life, that bondage that makes you a prisoner and that bring you misery. Change is possible! Do it now. You say, “I want to but can’t I have tried.”
2. Change can only come when you have the absolute desire to do so and have the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Then change is possible. (Phil.4:13) Gloria Pitzer has written a clever little poem: Procrastination is my sin – It brings me naught but sorrow. I know that I should stop it, In fact, I will…tomorrow.

The right time is God’s time, not your time. When he speaks to us we need to response. A wise person will resolve to stop putting things off. Often we will response by saying I’ll get to it tomorrow. Prov 27: 1 “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”

Dawson Trotman, the founder and first president of The Navigators, once said, “The greatest time wasted is the time getting started.” Procrastination keeps people from getting saved now, not later.
Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Isaiah 55:6 – gospel

(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now isthe day of salvation.)
— II CORINTHIANS 6:2
The time to change is now. Change is possible.

4. Many people give no attention, or little, to anything outside of what they consider to be their immediate needs. I need my fix I need my drug I need that drink I need it for survival, success or my pleasure. Everything else can wait! However, if you have an addiction the time to act is now, not later. Change is possible.The most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time.

II Procrastination is the enemy of spiritual growth

1. Procrastination robs you of your opportunities for spiritual growth.
When we are disobedient, we cannot have God’s hand of blessing on our lives. What are you putting off that robs your spiritual growth?

James 4:17 -Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

All of us have different areas that we procrastinate in (each area is different for all of us.) And I’m not here to condemn anybody I’m just asking you to search your heart today and know you can change.

2. We find ourselves saying, “I know that my spiritual life would be better if I came to Bible study, church prayer meeting or Sunday school. I’ll start tomorrow. Or, “I’ve wanted to serve the Lord in His church and I’ve been planning to begin tithing my income, but we’ve been so busy that we just haven’t gotten around to. Maybe we can get started tomorrow. We put off serving the Lord and growing in grace. Get around to it.

III Procrastination is the enemy of Success

1. You are a Christian, you can have success making changes. Christian maturity takes effort; it comes over time. — 1Co 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brethren, beye stedfast, unmoveable, alway abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

If you ignore the place of prayer and if you neglect your relationship with Christ, you will not grow in grace and endurance. You will not overcome the addiction, sin, or trouble in your life. Only as you mature in your relationship with the Lord will your life be filled with spiritual maturity and power. It is that power that comes from God’s spirit to overcome and make real change.
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. — I John 4:4

2. As you begin a new year, you may be painfully aware that you need to change your life. You know you have failed others, yourself and most importantly the Lord in various ways. Jesus will not berate you. Jesus will not humiliate you. He will ask you to examine your commitment to Him. Jesus does not need your New Year resolutions, or your promises to try harder this year. If you could not resolve to obey God last year it will not help you to be faithful and make you successful this year.

Conclusion:

Jesus asks for your love and commitment. If you truly love Him, your service for Him in the New Year will be of the quality that He desires.—Lord, as this year comes to a close, we give thanks for all You have accomplished in and through us. By Your grace, lift our eyes to see what is to come! Father, I’m putting my burdens on You at the end of this year because I know You care for me and can work powerfully.