"A Convenient Time"

A fable is told of three apprentice devils that were coming to Earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan, the king of the devils, about their plans to tempt and ruin humanity.

The first said, “I will tell them there’s no God.”

The Devil said, “No, that is not going to work. People know there is a God.”

The second one said, “I will tell them there’s no Hell.”

“No,” the Devil said, “Most people, deep down in their hearts, know there is a Hell and a judgment to come.”

The third said, “I will tell them there’s no hurry.”

“Go,” said Satan, “and you will ruin them by the thousands.”

That is how procrastination works. It doesn’t say, “I’m not going to do it.” That is too final, too absolute. Rather, procrastination says, “I’ll get around to it later.”

In Acts 24 we find the story of a master procrastinator, a Roman leader named Felix. He had the opportunity to hear one of the greatest preachers who ever lived, the apostle Paul. But Felix didn’t believe the message Paul proclaimed.

It almost appears that this was Felix’s moment of decision when everything came together. The conviction of the Spirit was there. The recognition of his need for God was there. He probably intellectually acknowledged the truth of the gospel. But he said to Paul, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you” (Acts 24:25 NKJV).

Repetition dulls truth’s potency. The more we hear something, the more immune we can become to it. And when people do this with the gospel, they can become hardened to the very truth that might have softened them. In the end, they become judged by the very message that might have set them free.