A few y
ears ago someone had the bright idea to market small wooden coins printed with the letters T – U – I – T on the face. These trinkets were meant to be given to people who always use the excuse that they will do those good things they intend to do when they finally get around to it. Well, now they have it—a round TUIT!
The world is filled with people called procrastinators, people who have the innate ability to always leave things go to a more convenient time or until the deadline is nearly past. Many people even suppose such problems are humorous. The very thought of putting things off until later led to the final words of the poem Maud Muller written by John Greenleaf Whittier: “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been!’” Whittier was waxing poetic about a young man and woman who always had an eye for one another but could never quite bring themselves to make a commitment. They never got around to it. Something always got in the way, until it was too late. Certainly no harm was done in Whittier’s poem. It was just words on a page and a fanciful thought. But there may be times when the problem of putting things off can cause real harm.
So it was with the Roman Governor Felix. The apostle Paul had been rushed by a Roman garrison to Caesarea, seat of the Roman governor. The trip was necessary for Paul’s own protection, since there was a plot to kill him and he needed a place of safety. As a Roman citizen, Paul was given special treatment. Felix promised to hear Paul’s case and hopefully pass fair judgment. A few days later the trial came before Felix. The high priest Ananias personally traveled to Caesarea to make the claim that Paul was an agitator and a troublemaker. Paul had due process to refute those claims. After both arguments were presented, the governor had Paul kept under relaxed guard, allowing his friends to minister to him while Felix contemplated the outcome. But meanwhile, “Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus” (Acts 24:24). What better topic to share with an unbeliever than one’s faith in Christ Jesus!
Felix listened intently, but the more he heard about his sin and the need for a Savior, the more he felt threatened and uncomfortable. Truly the Holy Spirit was moving within the heart of Felix, and it hurt. “Felix was afraid and said, ‘That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you’” (24:25).
We never hear whether or not Felix found a convenient time to discuss his faith life. Soon Felix was replaced by Festus, and God never found it convenient to mention his name again. Thus ends the tragic tale of another procrastinator.
Of all the story lessons in the Bible, this is one of the saddest, for it preaches a bold sermon of things that might have been. One can only surmise if Felix or Drusilla ever again thought about what they discussed that night with Paul. Did they wonder, “What if . . .?”
How easy it is for us to delay talking with an estranged family member, to wait for a later occasion to ask forgiveness of a friend, to look for a more convenient moment to stop a sinful habit, or to simply wait for another time and place to confess our sins to the Lord. How sad will be that day when millions of people like Felix will look to the heavens and repeat the words of Jeremiah 8:20: “The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.”
Personal goal: Tackle something today that you have been putting off for too long in your spiritual life.
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