Only God is Perfect, Waiting till YOU are is Killing YOU

This morning I have been impressed of the Lord to encourage you.  We know the syndrome.  People don't come to the Lord because they want to wait until they are perfect.  They think they can't bring their sin into the relationship that Jesus wants to have with them.  So they die lost.

That is simply bad theology.  But you knew that.  Just as I am without one plea.. still applies.

However the reality is we apply this same bad theology to many other parts of our lives, we wait till things are just right before we pull the trigger on life.  We wait to take a vacation.  We wait to have children.  We wait to enter the workforce till we have all the education money can buy.  We wait to buy a home.  We wait to start a business.  Wait till the time is right to get married.  Wait to change jobs.  WAIT

In life we hate waiting in line, waiting to talk to the help line, waiting to be served.  We are impatient with everyone but ourselves.  We are the worst enemy we have because we force ourselves to wait.  We think we have good reasons, but we know in our heart we don't.

Obedience requires action.  I know that passages regarding waiting on the Lord are plentiful.  Some have used these verses as excuses for Holy Procrastination.  When Noah was called on by the Lord to build the Ark, he did.  He didn't wait till it started to rain.

When the Spies were sent into the land and came back with the reports, 10 of them said, "It's just not the right time, we need to wait to go in".  Faithlessness generates this kind of procrastination and as a result all those spies and those of the same age were dead before they could enter the promised land.  That is happening every day to saints.  They hold back till the "Right Time".

While there is a time to wait, there is also a time to act:

• Proverbs 13:4
  The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.
   
• Proverbs 12:24
  The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.
   
• Proverbs 20:4
• The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing. (It's just not the right time to plow, right?)
   
• Ephesians 5:15-17
  Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
   
• James 4:17
  So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
   
• Ecclesiastes 11:4
  He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. (The TIME is never right for those who are too fearful to take action now)
   
• Proverbs 5:23
  He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.
   
• Proverbs 14:23
  In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.
   
• Matthew 8:21
  Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” (the time was not right for him to follow Jesus..)
   
• Proverbs 22:13
  The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”  (imagined dangers in action means fear paralyzes)
   
• Psalm 90:12
  So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.  (Wisdom means you won't live forever, but you will die)
   
• Proverbs 24:30-34
  I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.  (I'll get to that project tomorrow when the time is right)

I don't know what the Lord is stirring by this, but this has been strong on me.. and maybe it is for someone who needed to be encouraged to act.