Hurry, Hurry, Hurry…Wait.
Hurry, hurry, hurry! With it being a Monday morning as I post this, I wonder how many of us are thinking about allllll we have to do this week? Our culture and probably every other first world country lives such busy lives. So much to do, no time to do everything. It especially seems spending time with the Lord each day gets written at the bottom of the list often not getting done.
My recent Bible study in Acts 24 reminded me that as humans we have always found time to do what we make a priority in our lives.
Paul had been taken as a prisoner, and Felix, the governor and procurator of Judea at the time, had been given the responsibility of Paul, a Roman citizen albeit a Jewish Pharisee (and Christian) as well. After Paul’s trial, Felix and his wife, Drusilla, arranged to meet with Paul again just for their own curiosity. Drusilla’s family had been involved with “the Way” that Paul preached on several occasions. Her great-grandfather tried to kill Jesus in Bethlehem (Matthew 2), her great-uncle killed John the Baptist and mocked Jesus (Luke 23:6-23), and her father killed the apostle James (Acts 12:1-2). Obviously, her family’s involvement was all in opposing ways.
Verse 24 of the chapter tells us that “Felix trembled” which literally means he became terrified. Roman officials prided themselves in the self-restraint of their emotions, remaining stoic under all circumstances. It seems that conviction from the Holy Spirit gripped Felix’s heart. He was at the point of acceptance of Jesus Christ. He knew the truth. So what did he do?
He procrastinated.
“When I have a convenient time, I will call for you,” he told Paul (Acts 24:25).
Felix had possibly the greatest missionary in history explaining the way of salvation, yet he put it off for a more “convenient season.” He thought he could wait.
Dr. Clarence Macartney told a story about a meeting in hell. Satan called his four leading demons together and commanded them to think up a new lie that would trap more souls. "I have it!" one demon said. "I'll go to earth and tell people there is no God."
"It will never work," said Satan. "People can look around them and see that there is a God."
"I'll go and tell them there is no heaven!" suggested a second demon, but Satan rejected that idea. "Everybody knows there is life after death, and they want to go to heaven."
"Let's tell them there is no hell!" said a third demon.
"No, conscience tells them their sins will be judged," said the devil. "We need a better lie than that."
Quietly, the fourth demon spoke. "I think I've solved your problem," he said. "I'll go to earth and tell everybody there is no hurry."
Why wait? Are people so afraid of giving their lives to Someone who gave their life for them? (Galatians 2:20)
Would they rather stay bound to sin (enslaved by the devil) than live in liberty in Christ? (Galatians 5:1)
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Now is indeed the time to accept Jesus Christ.
Edward Young wrote, “Procrastination is the thief of time,” but Warren Wiersbe more accurately said, “Procrastination is the thief of souls.”
Is there ever a time to hurry? When it comes to investing in your eternal future, *that* is when you need to hurry.
If you have never accepted the FREE GIFT of eternal life in heaven, please visit that link NOW! 
Please don’t let our enemy convince you that you’ll have time later in life.
And if you have accepted that free gift, what about your days? Are you giving time to the Lord each day? We all have the same number of hours in a day, and we all will answer for how we spent them. We make choices every day, every hour, and every minute as to what we will do next. Make spending time in God’s Word and in prayer the next thing if you haven’t yet.
8 Comments
Erica
Love this, my friend! So glad to see you are back to writing!
Leslie
Thank you for reading, Erica! 😊 I appreciate the encouragement. 💗
Phyllis Martin
Your blog today is so true. We all have experienced putting things off even when we know we shouldn’t. We need your wisdom. Thanks for sharing your heart.
Leslie
Thank you, Phyllis! I don’t think I have much wisdom, but I do know the Lord impressed this on me while studying. I wrote it on Saturday and planned on reviewing it last night. So many things said in Sunday school and both services at church reaffirmed that I should share it. (I always second guess myself….Probably the devil. 😉) Thank you for reading and commenting. 🧡
Phyllis Martin
Wisdom? Oh, but you do have it. It comes from the Lord 😇
Leslie
Amen, you are correct! 😊
Kathy Little
It IS so good to see you back writing again! Albeit, I doubt you ever put your pencil down!! You are a writer at heart! And we love getting to ponder your ponderments! I found it so interesting (and daunting) as you took us through Drusilla’s root system!! I had not considered the influence she had grown up under!
“Her great-grandfather tried to kill Jesus in Bethlehem (Matthew 2), her great-uncle killed John the Baptist and mocked Jesus (Luke 23:6-23), and her father killed the apostle James (Acts 12:1-2). Obviously, her family’s involvement was all in opposing ways.”
And yet we contrast that with the power of godly influence…. ahhhh, His steadfast love to thousands!!!!
Ex. 20:5-6…… You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Thank you for your call to proclaim!! Our lives and our surrender do affect us and affect our families rising up behind us!!
Leslie
Kathy, it’s so easy to get sidetracked on information like that. There were all kinds of other back details concerning Paul that I had first started to include but removed. lol I was trying to keep it to the point and not get too lengthy. 😉🙄😂 I thought that was all so interesting when I was studying all the “players” in this story. Women weren’t normally at hearings like this, so I think she had real curiosity to learn more about “the Way.” If she was completely against it, then she wouldn’t have wanted to give him the time of day. I just hope that while Drusilla and Felix’s ending is not mentioned in Scripture, that maybe, just maybe, they realized they needed to do something with that knowledge. Anyway, see, I could ramble on and on. Thank you for being a faithful reader and encourager. 💗