Shiloh Messenger - FEB 06
















PRUDENT FORESIGHT

"If you wait for perfect conditions you will never get anything done."
(Eccles. 11:4 Living Bible)

Tomorrow has to be the busiest day of people's lives. We are all challenged with deferring activities in our lives to another day. A more suitable day we think. A less busy day we tell ourselves. We rationalize with our feelings. We excuse ourselves with the slightest inclination of I will take care of it later. We procrastinate because we do what our flesh wants to do. The flesh is screaming to be gratified, and meanwhile the clock is ticking. Procrastination is a major cause of waste and failure. Procrastination is defined as, "to defer action, delay, to put off doing something until later, forward, tomorrow." I recently came across a funny little poem that is packed full of truth. It goes right along with this topic and goes like this.... " Procrastination is my sin. It brings me naught, but sorrow. I know that I should try to stop it. In fact, I will tomorrow." (Author -Gloria Pitzer). Procrastination is a common mindset that robs many individuals of accomplishments. The Bible is replete with many people who failed to act when they should have. One particular parable is found in Luke 14: 15-24. This Parable in essence is an invitation that God gives to man to come and partake of His Blessings. However we read that some will not take of His feast because of purchasing a piece of ground, another defers because of the purchase of some oxen, and then another will not because he has married a wife. They each deferred action and missed out on a wonderful opportunity. They procrastinated. God called someone else in his or her stead. There are also many successful people in the Bible who responded immediately. The Bible mentions four Disciples who left their fishing nets, when Jesus said, "come". They did not think at that moment with their natural mind and allow excuses, and rationalization to kick in. They would not defer or procrastinate waiting on a more appropriate time judged by what was going on that moment in their lives. They did not say my schedule is busy, my plate is full, and I cannot come today, but call me tomorrow. Procrastination will rob us of fulfilling our destinies. It is a "subtle thief". In the natural mind it looks to be of aide to us. Yet Great opportunities are often missed, lives are ruined, and souls are lost because of delay. We are none promised tomorrow. The Bible tells us that are lives are but a vapor. Whatever we prioritize as the most important will be the things we do not postpone. Good intentions do not count for anything. I can remember years ago when I was Hospice Nursing. One particular Friday I was given an assignment to admit a new Hospice Patient to my already full caseload. I was also given the opportunity of choice to admit him to Hospice this particular Friday or wait until the following Monday. He was in no need at this time for an immediate response. The report was that he was stable. He had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer. He was not an elderly man but a younger man in his forties. It looked as if time was in our favor. I am very thankful to this day that I was led by God to rearrange my schedule and go assess his condition that particular Friday. I will always remember having the greatest difficulty finding his home. He lived in the back sticks of nowhere land. It was like a wild goose chase. I was lost and getting more and more discouraged by the minute. I was almost persuaded to turn around and pursue it on Monday. After all it was Friday afternoon. I had plans for the weekend. He was not in dire need of my attention. I was having difficulty finding him. The directions were not clear. Much time had already elapsed. I know today I was persuaded by the Holy Spirit to continue in my pursuit and not turn around. I made it to his home. He was alone. I went in and assessed his physical condition. I then began to assess his spiritual condition. God so graciously had set it up for me to lead him in a prayer of repentance and salvation, asking Jesus Christ to come into his heart. Things happened very quickly that weekend. He died before Monday morning came. This is an incident that I am so very glad I did not postpone. In spite of my own frustrations, my flesh crying out to defer this assignment, and my own weakness of being geographically direction challenged. God gets glory. Decisions are made by all of us everyday. The only way we can have confidence in not missing precious opportunities that are vital to God's Glory is to inquire of the LORD. Let Him hold our schedules and order our steps. Be careful in our delays. I realize some things are unavoidable, but we must get to the place of asking God to show us. He is the only one that knows the true time. We must get to the place of inviting God to convict us quickly when we are deferring things that should not be. It only takes a moment to ask God for direction. It may mean someone missing hell. The natural eye will misdirect our judgment. The natural mind will gear us off course. " If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done." Ecclesiastes 11: 4 (The Living Bible) Prudent means to exercise sound judgment in practical matters, managing carefully, discerning. Foresight means to be prudent in regard to the future. If this is evident in our lives we will be careful with our time.

Debbie Fondren                  


Shiloh Ministries would like to extend it's thanks to Ron DiCianni
for allowing the use of his painting, "The Prodigal", for our header.
"Image copyrighted by Art2See, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Somerset House Publishing, Inc."


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