Doctrine from Dirty Diapers:
By: Pastor Bailey Miller
Truth Delayed
There is a dangerous temptation in all of us to delay obedience or ignore responsibility. We convince ourselves that we will deal with it later, fix it tomorrow, apologize next week, serve when life settles down, or finally address the issue “when the time is right.” But Scripture speaks plainly to this tendency:
“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” — James 4:17
One of the greatest spiritual dangers of today is convincing ourselves that good intentions are the same thing as faithful action. We begin treating postponed faithfulness as harmless because we still intend to obey eventually. However, truth delayed is still truth neglected, even if for a moment. Neglected conviction today becomes easier to dismiss tomorrow. The heart grows complacent each time we postpone what God has already made clear. Scripture does not merely call us to admire what is right, agree with what is right, or even intend what is right—it calls us to do what is right when the opportunity is before us.
The Pride Behind Delay
I remember a recent Sunday school conversation that somehow turned toward the subject of a dirty diaper. I recounted changing our newborn, wrapping up the diaper, and setting it down on the bed. That’s about the last thing I recalled before a certain stench filled our room later that week. Of course, the diaper had gotten knocked down and under our bed. Before long, the smell had spread through the room and become far worse than it would have been if it had simply been dealt with immediately.
That image has stuck with me (as much as the smell did to my nose) because it is painfully true to life.
Many of the spiritual problems we find ourselves contending with are “dirty diapers” we refused to throw away when we first noticed them. Bitterness left unattended becomes resentment. A neglected prayer life becomes spiritual dryness. A delayed apology becomes a fractured relationship. A postponed act of obedience becomes a hardened heart. Neglected Scripture reading gives way to disbelief.
Another way the Bible describes this struggle against sin is as one against weeds. Much like a diaper deferred, weeds left unchecked will seek to steal, kill, and destroy like the Enemy that sows them. They will rob water and sun from healthy plants, eventually choking them out. Not only that, but a single weed if left to flower can produce hundreds, if not thousands, more seeds, allowing the problem to spread rapidly. And, much like sin, if a weed is left lying on the same ground it was pulled from, it can re-root itself and prepare for its next attack.
What could have been handled quickly begins to rot because we delayed doing what we already knew was right. What could have been tossed in the trash or handled at the root instead fills the room of our hearts or the garden of our souls, not with peace but with turmoil. At the heart of such procrastinated obedience is often pride.
We do not always delay because we are incapable. Sometimes we delay because we believe we are in control of the timing or assume there will always be another opportunity in the proverbial tomorrow. Yet, delayed obedience quietly says, “I will obey God when I decide to.”
Pride tells us we can manage sin, or righteousness, later and that discipline can wait. Pride whispers that small compromises are harmless. Yet every moment we knowingly postpone what is right, we train our hearts to resist conviction and harm ourselves with the numbness that comes with hearing God, but not listening to Him.
The longer we wait, the easier it becomes to justify continued disobedience or to treat loving God by keeping His law as something that can wait. What once troubled our conscience begins to feel normal. The smell that once offended us becomes something we barely notice. The sin that once grieved us now only stings, and eventually may even just be viewed as an inconvenience rather than remembered as something that Christ died for.
The Harm in Failing to Do Right
We often think sin is only about the wrong things we do, but James reminds us there is also sin in the right things we refuse to do. Often, refusing to do what is right comes from tolerating unchecked compromise rather than submitting to God. As mentioned, that weed of sin that can spring forth isn’t just harmful because it’s less beautiful than a flower or fruit of righteousness, but because it kills and prevents that which is beautiful:
There are people who need encouragement now.
There are prayers that need to be prayed now.
There are habits that need to change now.
There are conversations that need to happen now.
When we fail to act, harm spreads quietly to ourselves and beyond. Neglected responsibilities burden others while ignored spiritual disciplines weaken our witness. Unaddressed sin affects families, churches, and communities. Like that forgotten diaper, problems don’t improve or find their solution in Christ through negligence.
On the practical understanding of urgency, wisdom understands that immediacy is not always identical to impulsiveness. There are moments when circumstances, responsibilities, timing, or necessary preparation make instant action impossible. Some acts of obedience require planning, counsel, patience, or waiting on the proper opportunity in order to honor God and others. But there is a difference between a delayed opportunity and a delayed heart. A faithful heart does not postpone obedience to quiet its conscience or escape discomfort. Even when action cannot happen immediately, the pursuit of what is right should remain active. God is not merely looking for hurried reactions, but for willing hearts that refuse to make peace with procrastinated obedience.
Thankfully, Scripture does not leave us merely warned about neglect, but continually calls us into a life of faithful and ordinary obedience.
Faithful Obedience in Everyday Life
In the end, faithful obedience is rarely built through grand spiritual moments alone, but through the steady refusal to allow sin, neglect, compromise, or spiritual apathy to remain unattended in our lives. The Christian life is one of continually bringing every thought, habit, and conviction before Christ rather than pushing them into hidden corners and hoping they resolve themselves. What we repeatedly ignore does not remain neutral. It slowly shapes the condition of the heart, affecting our fellowship with God, our witness to others, and our sensitivity to conviction.
Whether it is uprooting weeds before they spread or taking out the “dirty diapers” before the whole room is affected, the principle remains the same: though postponed faithfulness carries real consequences, the grace of Christ remains sufficient for the believer who repents and returns to Him. By God’s grace, the call to obedience is not a call to earn God’s favor, but the response of a heart transformed by His mercy. May we be people who do not merely recognize righteousness from a distance, but who sincerely pursue it in the ordinary rhythms of daily life. May we remain tender to conviction, faithful in discipline, and willing to respond when God reveals what is right, trusting that obedience offered to God is never wasted.