Delaying Again And Again

In discussing Harry's defeat of the dark Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Dumbledore says, "Nevertheless, Harry, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time — and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power.” In Mosiah 3:19 it talks about "putting off the natural man." Now in the context it appears that to "put off" most likely means to set aside or reject or expel, but put off can also mean to postpone or delay. Many times it seems like we are fighting a losing battle and merely delaying the inevitable when it comes to rejecting or expelling our natural urges and the temptations that do easily beset us. It can seem like it will make little difference if we delay our eventual lapse or error or rebellion by a day or an hour or even a minute, but those delays mean more than you think. Yes, quitting smoking or keeping our temper or refraining from gossip can all seem like losing battles and any effort we make will ultimately be pointless since we're just going to take that next cigarette or blow up at our spouse or spread some vicious rumor. But if we keep delaying, if we keep putting off the natural man for another second, and then another minute, and then five more minutes, eventually, if we delay enough times and fight enough losing battles, then one day we will find that we have become strong and our enemies have become weak and there will be a day where the natural man wins no more battles and can no longer have power over us.