.....later

And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.  Acts 24:25

Paul’s nephew heard of the danger and acted at once, and his quick obedience carried Paul safely out of Jerusalem. Today we meet a man in Caesarea who also heard something urgent, felt its full weight, and chose to wait.

Felix was the Roman governor, a powerful man with a troubled past. When Paul’s accusers had finished their case, Felix kept Paul in custody but often sent for him. One day he came with his wife Drusilla to hear Paul speak about faith in Christ. Paul did not flatter them. He spoke of righteousness to a man who had little, of self-control to a man who had taken another man’s wife, and of the judgment to come to a ruler who thought himself the judge.

And Felix trembled. The Holy Spirit was reaching him. His conscience was awake, his heart was stirred, and the door of salvation stood wide open before him. This was his test: what would he do in the moment when God was speaking to him? He answered with words that sound so reasonable: not now, later, when it is more convenient.

That convenient season never came. Felix called for Paul many more times over two years, but now he was hoping for a bribe, and Scripture never again says that he trembled. Ellen White warns of exactly this danger: “Beware of procrastination. Do not put off the work of forsaking your sins and seeking purity of heart through Jesus. Here is where thousands upon thousands have erred to their eternal loss” Steps to Christ, ch. 3, “Repentance”.

Felix’s words are still spoken today. “When the children are older.” “When work slows down.” “When I have sorted out my life.” But the moment the Spirit stirs the heart is itself the gift of grace. The trembling is God’s mercy knocking at the door, and the safest time to open is always now.

The nephew teaches us the blessing of acting at once when God shows us what to do. Felix teaches us the danger of waiting for a better moment, because a heart that keeps saying “later” may one day stop trembling altogether.