Churches of Christ -- Sermons; Sermons, American -- 20th century
On the way to town he stopped beside the road. His wife asked him what
was wrong. He said, “I’m not going to the show. I just wanted to test
you out. I was planning to obey the gospel. If this thing is as
important as you and your preacher say it is, then you ought to have
gone on tonight regardless of what I did. Before I accepted I thought I
would test you out.” I admit that he treated her pretty rough; but after
all, you can’t afford to let even the person whom you love best on this
earth keep you from doing that which is right. It would be an act of
unkindness. If you love someone, you ought not to let him keep you from
doing right but you ought to go on anyhow and use your influence to get
him to come along with you.
10. “_There is plenty of time yet._” This one will probably take more
people to hell than all the others put together. Procrastination is the
thief of souls. I’ve never talked to but one person who said he planned
to die and go to hell. Others say, “Yes, I’m going to change my ways. I
know that I’m lost and I’m going to change.” But when? “Well, sometime.”
A man who talks like that never gets it done. When I go into a man’s
home, talk to him, and urge him to obey the gospel and he says, “Well,
I’m going to think it over; I’m glad you came and I’ll think it over,” I
go away without much encouragement. But if a person tells me, “Yes,
Brother Dark, I’ll be over there next Sunday night and be baptized,”
then I know something is going to happen. That is the only way to
overcome the tendency to procrastinate.
I talked to some people at Madison one evening about 5 P.M. Immediately
upon entering the room I learned that they knew what they ought to do.
They had attended our meeting often and they knew that they ought to be
baptized. They understood the plan of salvation. I remarked to them that
one could get into the habit of procrastinating. I said, “Every time you
repeat the act of putting this thing off this habit becomes stronger. If
you aren’t careful, it may get you bound so tightly that you will never
overcome it.” They came forward that night and obeyed the gospel, less
than three hours after I had talked to them, and are now two of the most
faithful members in the church. Afterwards the man told me that the
remark about procrastination had prompted him to act immediately. He
realized that he had got into the habit of putting it off. This habit
was getting stronger and stronger. He had to exert his will power to
overcome it.
None of these excuses are any good. They will not stand the test of the
judgment. I doubt that you would even have the audacity to mention them
before God. There is no excuse for failing, or for delaying, to do what
you know God has commanded.
IV
The Best Resolution
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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