Context No. 3449 of 4322 · Acts

Acts 24:22-27: in context

22But Felix, having more exact knowledge concerning the Way, deferred them, saying, “When Lysias, the commanding officer, comes down, I will decide your case.” 23He ordered the centurion that Paul should be kept in custody and should have some privileges, and not to forbid any of his friends to serve him or to visit him. 24After some days, Felix came with Drusilla his wife, who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ Jesus. 25As he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was terrified, and answered, “Go your way for this time, and when it is convenient for me, I will summon you.” 26Meanwhile, he also hoped that money would be given to him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore also he sent for him more often and talked with him. 27But when two years were fulfilled, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and desiring to gain favor with the Jews, Felix left Paul in bonds.

Paul reasons with the governor Felix about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, and Felix is genuinely shaken: he was terrified. The truth reached him; his conscience stirred. But instead of acting on it, he says the fatal words: go your way for now; when I have a convenient time, I will summon you.

He puts off the decision to a more convenient moment that never comes. Two years pass, and Felix, hoping all along for a bribe and wanting to please others, leaves Paul in prison and his own stirred conscience quietly buried. There is a sober warning here about the danger of the convenient later. Felix felt the truth and postponed it, and the postponement hardened into refusal. When God's truth stirs us, the moment to respond is now; go your way for now, I will deal with it later, is exactly how many a shaken conscience slides back into comfort and, in the end, does nothing at all.

When God's truth stirs my conscience, do I act on it now, or do I put it off to a convenient time that may never come, as Felix did?

Sources

Acts 24:25: "As he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was terrified, and answered, Go your way for this time."
Acts 24:26: "He also hoped that money would be given to him by Paul, that he might release him."
2 Corinthians 6:2: "Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation."