After Paul was arrested and imprisoned, he was given several opportunities to preach the gospel to men of great prominance. On one occasion, Paul was able to preach to Felix, a Roman governor. We are not told the details of what he said the Felix. All we have is Acts 24:25 which says, "Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, 'Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you."
What I'd like to focus on is Felix's reaction to the truth. It first of all says that he was afraid. Why would he be afraid? This man was a governor and as such, he had no need to fear for his physical safety; Paul was not a threat to him in that sense. Perhaps Felix was arachnophobic and there happened to be a spider near him as Paul was preaching. No, that's silly, isn't it? So why was he afraid? Perhaps he was afraid because he felt the impact of Paul's preaching. The apostle was talking about the coming judgment, and for someone who is not right with God, that would be rather frightening. Hebrews 10:31 says that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," and in Hebrews 12:29 we are told that "God is a consuming fire." To hear someone tell you that one day you will stand before the Almighty God in judgment might be scary if you're not prepared.
But there are two ways to handle this fear. Either we can respond by seeking to do God's will so that we might be prepared for the judgment to come, or we can try to push this fear and this new knowledge to the back of our minds and just move on with our lives. Felix obviously chose the latter route. According to the text, he told Paul, "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you." Felix wasn't willing to act at that point, so he told Paul to leave. In other words, it was his intention to ignore the message for the time being. After all, he was a governor. He didn't have time for righteousness and moral living. Surely, he knew that if he embraced Christianity, many changes would have to be made in his life, and that wasn't convenient for him at the time.
Many people react to the gospel this way today. They can tell that the gospel message is true, and they know that they ought to embrace the truth and live faithfully as Christians, yet they refuse to do it because it's inconvenient for them at the time. Young people say things like, "I will become a Christian one day, but I want to sow my wild oats first," or someone might say, "I do intend on becoming a Christian at some point in the future, but now's not a good time."
Here's the problem with that logic: we are not guaranteed a more convenient time in the future. Sure, it sounds like good, sound reasoning, but James says "whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away" (Jas. 4:14). You could die in a car-wreck. You could have a heart-attack. You could get shot by an intruder in your home. Sure, we'd all like to think that these things won't happen to us, but any of it is possible. So when we put off or delay obedience to the gospel message, we're taking a huge risk.
But do you know that we are guaranteed something? Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:2, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." You are not guaranteed tomorrow, but you are guaranteed right NOW!
So what will you do?
If you are not a Christian...if you're not who you need to be, why put it off? Perhaps you know that you need to make things right with God. Why not today? Don't be like Felix who delayed salvatation for a more convenient time. Do it now, while you have time because the fact is, nothing is more precious than your soul (Mt. 16:24-26). Sure, sin is fun for a season. All that drinking and partying may be fun now...but you need to consider your soul.
If there is anything I can do to help you in this regard, please let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment