Don’t Procrastinate Or Make Excuses; Get Done What Needs To Be Done!
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.‘ (Ecclesiastes 11:4)
As the weather is about to get cold outside, we sometimes have the tendency to try to ‘wait until the weather improves’. Certainly, in the north, where the cold weather along with snow on the ground may last for months, it is necessary to avoid long-term exposure to frigid conditions, and things like gardening or landscaping aren’t going to be too high on the agenda as plants typically don’t do well in the cold and the ground is usually frozen and very difficult to dig into.
Usually, to pass the time up north, more indoor hobbies and ‘to-do’s’ are focused on to pass the time. Perhaps it is time to spend preparing for the gardening, buying the seeds or seedlings, getting the top soil, etc., then to do the gardening itself. Here in southwest Florida, we don’t have too many cold days where we can’t get out of the house (for us, it’s often the ‘dog days’ of our hot and humid summers that keep us indoors in the AC), but there are rainy days or tropical storms that force us in. Sometimes, especially as we get older, we tend to ‘veg’ out a bit and become couch potatoes lounging in front of the television or with our nose in our smartphones.
Though resting is needed and as we age is welcomed, it’s not good to be too idle. However, it’s easy to say, ‘it’s too hot’, or ‘it’s too cold’, or a dozen of other weather-related excuses to stay on the couch and do nothing. It can be detrimental if we get so idle we don’t move even though it is important to take care of necessary tasks.
If a hurricane is coming and you decide not to cover your windows or pick up the flower pots and other loose items in your yard, to stay comfortable on your easy chair, for example, you may end up without an easy chair to sit in, as the windows may break from the pots going through them, starting a cascade of wind damage ending in your roof blowing off and your belongings become gone with the wind. There are also potential health and mental issues from being too idle for too long.
Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 11, provides the wise advice not to be idle, not to rely on one skill or specialty but to be versatile as ‘you do not know what disaster may come upon the land’ (Ecclesiastes 11:2). The primary purpose of this chapter is to be prepared for any situation to occur in your life. In Ecclesiastes 11:4, as part of this preparation, is to have the tenacity to keep moving forward, and not simply wait until the conditions are ‘perfect’. For Solomon’s example, the time to plant is the… time to plant. If one delays to allow the wind to die down too long, the planting season will pass and no crops will come. Planting in windy conditions may scatter some seeds, but at least some seeds will get into the ground and begin to grow.
He also goes to the opposite end of the season. Sometimes it’s necessary to harvest the crops in the rain, as waiting will make your crops may wither and rot before they are picked. The time to wait may not be there, and procrastinating until it’s the ‘right’ time may cause the loss of the opportunity to be successful. This isn’t just for agriculture; today many couples put career above having children, stating ‘let’s wait until the right time’ and delay until they realize that they waited too long. The time to have children is when you have the ability to have them and not wait until everything is ‘proper’, as ‘proper’ may never come.
We can also apply this to our witnessing. Often, Christians tell themselves, ‘I’m not equipped to share the Gospel with others.’, or ‘I don’t think <the lost person in question> is ready for Gospel.’ Don’t look for the appropriate time to share; the time to share is always ‘now’. The conditions may need that sharing to be modified; sharing to someone the Gospel may be to give them a taste of God’s goodness without throwing a meal, or the ‘Road to Romans’ path of salvation, in front of them in one setting. Ask them if they need prayer, be Christ-like in your demeanor in front of them. Start them with a taste of the Gospel and they may decide they want another bite, and then more and more until they ask for the entrée.
If you don’t share at all, how will they know to ask for the entrée? Go with what you know about Jesus, what He means to you and what He has done in your life. If asked a question and you don’t know the answer, be honest and say, ‘I don’t know’, and be willing to seek the answer to share the next time. Don’t let fear or absence of knowledge stop you. Know that our job is to plant a seed; you may not be the one to see the person accept Christ but by sharing a taste of the Gospel, you may start that person’s journey toward the buffet table of Jesus. It’s not just for the Pastor or the Elders to do, but for everyone who is a child of Christ.
