Procrastination Is Pride
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | We are talking with our friend Trip Lee.
00:00:07.320 | Trip, in your new book Rise, you write this, quote,
00:00:10.900 | "To put it simply, procrastination is pride
00:00:14.900 | "because it assumes you know the future,
00:00:16.920 | "but we don't know when our health will decline
00:00:18.880 | "or our lives will end.
00:00:20.720 | "We don't even know for sure when life will get busier."
00:00:24.640 | End quote.
00:00:26.080 | Knowing that our time is short helps to bring clarity
00:00:28.760 | to our daily priorities, of course,
00:00:30.560 | and it makes us diligent in those priorities.
00:00:33.880 | So explain how this relates to procrastination.
00:00:37.760 | Well, you know, I feel very experienced
00:00:40.720 | in writing about procrastination
00:00:42.400 | because that's been something that's been an issue for me
00:00:45.920 | of my lifetime.
00:00:46.760 | Management was not a natural strength to me.
00:00:48.880 | And, you know, especially in my college years,
00:00:52.400 | time management and procrastination would pop up a lot
00:00:55.040 | and got really convicted me.
00:00:56.840 | When I say to myself over and over again,
00:00:59.160 | you know what, I'll do this later.
00:01:00.400 | I'm assuming that I'll have a later.
00:01:02.680 | I'm assuming that I'll have the time to do that
00:01:05.560 | at some other time.
00:01:06.680 | And that's just knowledge that I don't really have.
00:01:08.820 | You know, it's just like what James says,
00:01:12.080 | and James too, when he says,
00:01:14.040 | "Come now, you who say today or tomorrow,
00:01:16.000 | "we will go into such and such a town
00:01:17.760 | "and spend a year there and trade and make profit.
00:01:20.280 | "Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.
00:01:22.780 | "What is your life?
00:01:23.620 | "For you are missed.
00:01:24.460 | "It appears for little time and advantages.
00:01:26.620 | "Instead you ought to say,
00:01:27.680 | "if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."
00:01:31.200 | And I think one of the principles there
00:01:32.880 | is it's very proud to say with certainty
00:01:36.320 | that today or tomorrow, you'll do this or that.
00:01:38.880 | And so then when we begin to think about procrastination,
00:01:41.580 | if I have a task that needs to be done,
00:01:43.680 | and I say, you know what, I'm gonna just do that later.
00:01:45.640 | I'm assuming that I have God's sovereign knowledge
00:01:48.760 | of all things,
00:01:49.840 | and that I'm definitely gonna be able to do that.
00:01:52.040 | And so what that does for me is
00:01:54.000 | it helps me to think a lot more carefully
00:01:55.800 | about the way that I'm spending my time,
00:01:57.680 | that I wouldn't be so proud assuming that this time right now
00:02:00.680 | that I have belongs to me,
00:02:02.000 | when it really belongs to God,
00:02:03.520 | or assuming that I'll get to have more time later.
00:02:06.180 | This becomes really clear with kids,
00:02:07.880 | where, you know, when I was single and unmarried,
00:02:10.080 | there was more chance of me always having time
00:02:12.080 | to do other things.
00:02:12.900 | But now that I have kids,
00:02:14.200 | it's like the Lord has given me
00:02:15.360 | a little illustration of reminder
00:02:17.200 | that you can't get time back.
00:02:19.360 | And so you have to use the time that you have
00:02:21.960 | very, very carefully,
00:02:23.640 | even beyond just other things coming up.
00:02:25.700 | We don't know for sure that our life will be extended.
00:02:28.520 | And so, you know,
00:02:29.720 | the only thing that I know about is right now.
00:02:32.640 | The only moment I know that I'll have
00:02:34.400 | is the one I'm in right now.
00:02:36.000 | And that has to change my approach to things.
00:02:38.200 | So for instance, when I meet a friend in my neighborhood,
00:02:41.360 | and I feel led to tell them about Jesus,
00:02:44.080 | and I think, man, I need to share the gospel with them.
00:02:45.960 | I can't just always assume I'll do that next week,
00:02:48.400 | I'll do that next year,
00:02:49.820 | because I just don't know
00:02:51.160 | that I'll get it next week or next year.
00:02:53.160 | And I have to be faithful.
00:02:54.560 | The moment I know that I have
00:02:55.840 | to share the gospel with them is right now.
00:02:57.840 | And of course, there's balance to that.
00:02:59.360 | You know, it doesn't mean I have to hop out of the car
00:03:01.080 | every time I drive by somebody.
00:03:02.760 | But I do have to think carefully,
00:03:04.140 | God has given me this moment right now.
00:03:06.240 | How can I use my right now to be faithful to him?
00:03:09.080 | And, you know, move forward and use every moment
00:03:11.760 | to be faithful instead of putting stuff off.
00:03:13.960 | - Amen, what a great word for us all, brother, thank you.
00:03:17.300 | And Tripoli's latest album and his new book
00:03:19.140 | are both titled Rise.
00:03:20.140 | You can get them at Amazon.com right now.
00:03:22.560 | I quoted from the book earlier in the podcast.
00:03:25.680 | Well, Trip is a writer, and so of course he is a reader.
00:03:28.680 | And we get one more episode with Tripoli,
00:03:30.640 | and I wanna ask him what books have most impacted his life
00:03:34.440 | and his ministry.
00:03:35.440 | That's tomorrow.
00:03:36.260 | I'm your host, Tony Reinhke.
00:03:37.160 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast
00:03:39.320 | with guest Tripoli.
00:03:40.580 | (upbeat music)
00:03:43.160 | (upbeat music)
00:03:45.740 | [BLANK_AUDIO]