Procrastination
Charles Spurgeon's Illustration Collection [1]
It is a snowy day, and some boys have put a few bricks together, making a sort of square box of them; they have set up one on edge on a piece of stick, and have scattered under it a few crumbs. Here comes a robin, and he picks up a crumb or two, and while he is feeding, down comes the brick! 'I did not wait long,' says the robin, 'but I am caught! I did not wait long, but I cannot get out! I did not wait long, but I have lost my liberty! I did not wait long, but it may be I shall lose my life!' Ah! little robin, thou shalt be a preacher to some here. They have gone a little into sin, and they are inclined to-night to wait a little while. Take care that this is not your dolorous note one of these days, 'I did not wait long, but the devil caught me in his trap! I did not wait long, but I waited too long! I did not wait long, but I lost my soul for ever?' God grant that this may not be your lot.
Webster's Dictionary [2]
(n.) The act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off to a future time; delay; dilatoriness.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [3]
the postponement of a matter from one day to another; according to the maxim of the lazy and of the men of pleasure, "Seria in crastinum (diem or tempus)." Generally, in such cases, time wears on, and things are not done, at least not in the right time or in the right way: "Cras, eras et semper eras, et sic dilabitur setas." The system of procrastination, therefore, is to be commended in no respect; but least of all in moral, or, better, religious matters. Every day lost in our moral amendment is an irreparable loss, a loss for eternity, as reformation becomes the more difficult the more it is delayed.
