Acts 22:12-16: in context

Recounting his conversion, Paul tells how Ananias came to him after his blinding encounter with Christ. Ananias restored his sight and told him God's purpose for him: to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to be a witness for him to all people of what he had seen and heard. And then Ananias pressed him to respond without delay: now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. The grace had come to Saul; the call was clear; and the response was to be now, not later.

Ananias's words to Saul carry an urgency worth hearing: why do you wait? Arise. The grace of God had come to Saul; Christ had met him; the way forward was clear. And Ananias does not tell him to consider it at leisure, to take his time, to respond eventually. He says, why do you wait? Now, respond; arise, be baptized, call on the name of the Lord. When God's grace has come and his call is clear, the time to respond is now, not some indefinite later. Delay in responding to grace is its own danger. This speaks to a tendency we have to defer our response to God. When God calls us, when his grace comes to us, when the way forward is clear, we can be tempted to put off responding, to wait for a more convenient time, to intend to respond eventually while delaying now. Ananias's word cuts against this: why do you wait? Now is the time. Behold, Paul says elsewhere, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation. God's grace and call deserve a response now, not a deferral to some later time that may never come. The danger of delay is that the more convenient time we wait for often does not arrive, and the heart that defers its response can harden. Today, Scripture urges, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. The time to respond to God is when he calls, not later. This searches whether we defer our response to God. Has God's grace come to us, his call become clear, the way forward evident, while we delay responding, waiting for a more convenient time, intending to respond eventually but not now? Ananias's word to Saul is a word to us: why do you wait? The time to respond to God's grace and call is now. This calls us not to delay our response to God. When his grace has come and his call is clear, we are not to defer, waiting for a better time, but to respond now, as Ananias urged Saul to arise and be baptized without delay. I hastened, the psalmist says, and did not delay to keep your commandments. The response to God's grace and call is now, not later; and we are called not to wait, but to arise and respond, calling on the name of the Lord, rather than deferring to a convenient time that may never come.

Has God's grace come to me and his call become clear while I delay responding, waiting for a more convenient time and intending to respond eventually but not now, and can Ananias's urgent word to Saul, why do you wait? Arise, together with the truth that now is the acceptable time and today is when we are to hear his voice, move me not to defer my response to God but to respond now, rather than waiting for a convenient time that may never come while my heart grows harder in the delay?