Overcoming Sin through Christ

Tardiness or Unpunctual

Have you ever known a person who was habitually late?  He or she might be late for work, late for meetings, and late for pre-arranged visits.  If you regularly have cause to meet with him, you can pretty well count on him or her to be ten or fifteen minutes late.  It seems that the person has little value for time for he or she doesn’t even plan to be on time or make the arrangements necessary for arrival in a timely manner.  Tardy means “occurring, arriving, acting, or done after the scheduled, expected, or usual time,” or “moving slowly; sluggish.”[1]  Tardy can mean “late; behind time; not on time.”[2]  By “tardy,” we mean late, not on time, unpunctual, behind time, belated, overdue, and dilatory. It is the opposite of punctual, on time, and prompt.[3]

We should remember that God has been prompt in all He has done and all He does.  Paul writes, “While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).  What if Christ had not died “at the right time”?  It is interesting to note that Daniel, inspired of God, prophesied the very time when Christ would come to earth and die for our sins (cf. Daniel 9:24-26).  Jesus fulfilled this prophecy and died at the very year Daniel stated—He was not late or early, but exactly on time!

Paul said, “When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law” (Galatians 4:4). Paul also writes that “at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).  God was punctual in all of His work and Christ did his work right on time!    Shouldn’t we also be?

Why would tardiness be sinful?  If one is tardy in doing things and going places in which he alone is involved, this is less of a problem for it may only indicate a lack of discipline (which itself can be sinful).  But tardiness often includes other aspects that compound the problem.

Promptness is showing consideration for the other person and his time.  The one who is tardy in arriving for his appointments fails to show this consideration toward others.  It shows a lack of respect for the time of others and a lack of love for the other person.  If there are ten people in a meeting waiting your arrival and you are ten minutes late, you have wasted a total of 100 minutes of those ten people—which is an hour and forty minutes!  Tardiness that involves leaving late or arriving late shows an undisciplined attitude toward time and we must remember that Paul wrote, “Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16; cf. John 9:4).

Tardiness or lack of promptness provides a poor Christian example for others.  Paul wrote, “In speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe” (1 Timothy 4:12).  Failure to arrive at meetings and appointments or failure to be at work at the appointed time would be a poor example of “conduct,” to use Paul’s words. Generally tardiness also involves lying or breaking commitments.  If one says, “I’ll meet you at 1 PM,” and then arrives at 1:15, doesn’t this break faith?  Doesn’t it show a lack of concern in fulfilling one’s word and duty?  Doesn’t it violate trust?  Isn’t it actually dishonest since we told the friend that we would be there at 1 PM but we didn’t make it?

Of course, we are not speaking of unintentional failure here.  Traffic may have been the cause, or other competing duties may have interfered, or another person may have held the person up, or a flat tire may have happened.  Even in such cases, we could call ahead and explain the delay, especially if we have a cell phone.

Let’s be known for our commitments.  Let’s be prompt for our meetings and appointments.  There needs to be a balance in this.  I knew a man who was habitually a half hour or 45 minutes early at work.  While the manager may appreciate this “donated” extra time that the employee gives, the Christian is very mindful of the limited amount of time and he should try to use as much of that time in the Lord’s work as possible (1 Corinthians 15:58).

But, since tardiness is wrong for the reasons we have discussed, it would also be wrong to arrive at work late.  We should have a balance in this.  Plan to arrive on time, but not too early to lose the precious time you could devote to the Lord in prayer and Bible study or you could devote to your children and spouse.

 

[1] The American Heritage College Dictionary.

[2] Random House Webster’s College Dictionary.

[3] Family Word Finder.