# Convenient *"That's enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you."* By [Reborn Jem](https://paragraph.com/@rebornjem) · 2026-07-25 christianity, daily devotional, spiritual growth, acts 24, procrastination, lời chúa --- Acts 24:24-27 (NIV) ------------------- 24 Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. 25 As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, "That's enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you." 26 At the same time he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, so he sent for him frequently and talked with him. 27 When two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, but because Felix wanted to grant a favor to the Jews, he left Paul in prison. ### The Governor Sends for the Prisoner Paul is in custody in Caesarea. He has already made his defence, the trial has stalled, and now something quieter happens. Felix, the Roman governor, comes with his wife Drusilla, and he sends for Paul. This is not a hearing. Nobody is under oath. Felix holds all the power in the room and Paul holds none. Paul is the man in chains being summoned for a private audience. And Paul uses it to speak "about faith in Christ Jesus." He does not raise his case. He does not negotiate for his release. Given a room with the one man who could set him free, Paul talks about Jesus. That is worth pausing on before we go further. The chains had not changed what Paul thought he was for. ### Righteousness, Self-Control, and the Judgment to Come Luke tells us the three things Paul talked about. "righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come" These are not random subjects. They are aimed. Felix was a governor known for cruelty and for taking money — a man whose job was justice and who sold it. Righteousness would have landed. Drusilla was the daughter of Herod Agrippa, and Felix had taken her from her husband. Self-control would have landed. And Felix, the judge who decided other men's cases, was going to stand in a court of his own one day. The judgment to come would have landed hardest of all. Paul did not preach a general message into the air. He spoke about Jesus to the actual man in front of him, at the exact places where that man's life did not line up. He was gentle enough to be heard and honest enough to be uncomfortable. We usually manage only one of those. We are honest in a way nobody can receive, or we are kind in a way that never touches anything real. Paul did both, from a prisoner's chair. ### Felix Was Afraid Here is the line that surprises me. "Felix was afraid" He was not bored. He was not unconvinced. Something in him registered that this was true. The man with all the authority was the one who got uncomfortable. We sometimes assume that if a person really felt the weight of the gospel, they would follow. Felix felt it. He felt it enough to be frightened by it. And then he sent it out of the room. Fear is not the same as repentance. Being moved is not the same as turning. You can sense that God is speaking and still choose not to answer. That is the sober thing this passage puts in front of us. Felix came closer than most people ever do, and he stayed where he was. ### When I Find It Convenient He does not say no. That is what makes this so recognisable. "That's enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you." It is a refusal dressed as a postponement. Later. Another time. When things settle down. When I have had a chance to think it through properly. When the timing is better. But look at what Paul had just been talking about. Righteousness. Self-control. Judgment. When exactly would those become convenient subjects? There is no week coming in which it will feel easy to be told that your life is not right and that you will answer for it. Felix was waiting for a day that does not exist. We do the same, and about smaller things too. The conversation we know we should have. The habit we intend to deal with eventually. The prayer we keep meaning to make honest. We are not refusing. We are waiting for it to become convenient. That word is how we say no without having to hear ourselves say it. ### He Sent for Him Frequently Then Luke adds a detail that is almost worse. "he sent for him frequently and talked with him" Felix did not avoid Paul. He kept calling him back. For two years he had regular access to one of the clearest voices in the early church, and Luke tells us plainly what he wanted from it. He was hoping for a bribe. So the conversations continued and nothing changed. Familiarity grew and obedience never did. By the end Felix could probably have explained the gospel himself. He had heard it more often than almost anyone in Caesarea. He simply wanted something else from Paul than what Paul was there to give him. It is possible to be near the truth constantly and stay untouched by it. To hear good teaching, sit in good rooms, even enjoy the conversation, while quietly wanting a different thing from God than the thing He is actually offering. Being close is not the same as surrendering. ### Two Years Had Passed "When two years had passed" Luke says it in five words. That is how delay works. It does not announce itself. Felix never decided to reject Christ. He decided to wait, and the waiting decided for him. Then his time ran out. Festus replaced him, and Felix's last recorded act is one more compromise: he leaves Paul in prison to do the Jewish leaders a favour. The man who was afraid of the judgment to come walked out still doing exactly what he had always done. His convenient day never came. And yet look at what those same two years were for Paul. Two years in custody, his work apparently stopped, waiting on a governor who was never going to move. It must have looked like waste. But this is the road that brings Paul to Rome, which is precisely where God had told him he was going. Felix stalled. God did not. Delay cost Felix everything. It cost Paul nothing but time. ### Walk On Most of us are never going to tell God no outright. We will say later. It sounds so much more reasonable than a refusal. So it is worth asking plainly. Is there something God has already made clear to me that I am currently treating as a timing problem? A sin I keep planning to address. A person I need to forgive. An obedience I agreed with months ago and have not started. And the harder question underneath it: what am I hoping to get from God that is not God Himself? Felix kept the conversation going because he wanted something out of it. It is possible to keep showing up and still be negotiating. If something stirred in you while you read this, do not send it out of the room. That stirring is not an interruption. It is the invitation. Today is the convenient day. It is the only one we have been given. All glory to God — forever and ever. Amen. 🤍 If this reflection spoke to you, consider subscribing to follow along my journey of faith, meditation, and rebuilding — one day at a time. Your support truly means more than you know. ❤️ --- *Originally published on [Reborn Jem](https://paragraph.com/@rebornjem/convenient)*