Do it now!

So the football World Cup has reached its later stages and surprisingly enough (at the time of writing, at least) England are still in the competition!  Some of the games have been fairly dull, but there have been some very exciting games and certainly some unexpected results.  The 2014 world champions, Germany, didn't even reach the knock-out stages of the competition, the first time the team hasn't progressed beyond the opening round since 1938 (that can't have pleased Herr Hitler!)  In a recent sermon, based on the dramatic story of David and Goliath, I commented on how the term "David and Goliath" is still in use today.  Certainly in the World Cup we have seen some Davids triumph over their Goliath opposition.

In the Biblical story of David and Goliath, we are told that each day Goliath would stride out and taunt the Israelite army, challenging any one of them to step forward and face him in battle.  But each day no-one could pluck up the courage to respond to the challenge.  David was sent by his father to take supplies to his elder brothers who were in the army.  As David visited them, he overheard Goliath's challenge and volunteered to face the great foe himself.  Though David, as a boy, seemed to be almost the last person who could face up to the challenge, he believed that God would grant him the victory.

One of the points I made in my sermon was that David didn't put off the challenge.  He could easily have thought to himself, "Maybe when I'm a bit older and more experienced I will come back and face Goliath."  Instead, he met the challenge head on and his trust in God was vindicated.

It's easy to procrastinate, especially in respect of issues which we may not want to face.  In my sermon I used as an example the fact that I have for some time realised that I ought to book a dental appointment for a check-up.  For several weeks I had made a note in my diary at the beginning of the week to remind myself of the need to phone the dental practice, but each time I had thought up reasons why it wasn't the right time, and put it off to the following week.  After including in my sermon a warning of the dangers of procrastination, I decided to bite the bullet (pardon the expression) and phone the dentist.   The receptionist took a while to find my file, then informed me that as it had been over two years since my last appointment, I had been "deactivated" and had to go on a waiting list to be accepted back onto their patient list!

I had been reminded that procrastination isn't a good thing, and I am hoping and praying that I don't have a tooth problem before my dentist decides to accept me again.  As someone once said, "Procrastination can make easy things hard and hard things harder."  The moral of the story?  If something needs doing, do it now!