There’s an old saying that goes, “Don’t put off till tomorrow what can be done today.” Many of us, including me, turn this saying around. We say instead, “Why do today, what can be put off till tomorrow?” This tendency can lead to unwelcome consequences.
I took this philosophy a little too far this year. Because I was so busy in the spring and couldn’t find certain papers I needed, I deferred filing my taxes. I fully intended to complete the task later in April, but things came up and April turned into May and May into June and…well, you get the picture. Now, suddenly it’s almost October and I’m scrambling to get them filed before the October 10 deadline.
The apostle James addressed this human tendency to procrastinate when he wrote, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:13, 14 NIV).
None of us knows what tomorrow may hold or if we will even have a tomorrow. So, whether it’s saying, “I’m sorry” to someone you’ve wronged, giving another a helping hand, telling a friend about Jesus, or just something as benign as filing your taxes on time, don’t put it off till tomorrow, for who knows if tomorrow will ever come. “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” (James 4:17).
Procrastination only makes things harder in the long run, so today, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Lift someone’s burden. Hold another’s hand. Say “I love you.” Don’t wait! Don’t put it off till tomorrow. Do it today!