After hearing the imprisoned apostle Paul reason about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, the Roman governor Felix was afraid and responded by saying: "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee" (Acts 24:25). Though one may wonder how sincere Felix was in his words, Luke informs us that there was no doubt about one thing. Felix hoped that "money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him" (Acts 24:26). Felix would gladly have taken a bribe.
Being a disciple of Jesus - obedient to God in all things like his Lord - has never been and never will be about convenience. If Felix genuinely waited until being a Christian would be convenient for him, he never obeyed Christ's demands to deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Him (Luke 9:23). Felix was caught in the convenience trap. Recently, I came across several tidbits of history which were sobering. Three different historians linked convenience to the rejection of immersion and the acceptance of sprinkling. Here are their words:
"But since the twelfth century, the practice of baptizing by infusion (sprinkling - jhc) has prevailed in the Catholic Church, as this manner is attended with less inconvenience than Baptism by immersion" (Gibbons, Faith of Our Fathers, p. 318).
"Cyprian first defended baptism by sprinkling, when necessity called for it, but cautiously and with much limitation. By degrees, however, this mode of baptism became more customary, probably because it was found more convenient" (Knapp, Christian Theology, p. 428).
"With the few exceptions just mentioned, the whole of the Western Churches have now substituted for the ancient bath the ceremony of sprinkling a few drops of water on the face. The reason of the change is obvious. The practice of immersion, apostolic and primitive as it was, was peculiarly suitable to the Southern and Eastern countries for which it was designed, and peculiarly unsuitable to the tastes, the convenience, and the feelings of the countries of the North and West. There is no one who would now wish to go back to the old practice (of immersion). It had no doubt the sanction of the Apostles and of their Master...(Sprinkling) is a striking example of the triumph of common sense and convenience over the bondage of form and custom" (Stanley, Baptism in the Nineteenth Century, pp. 697- 8).
"A striking example of the triumph of...convenience" Wow!
A clear lesson from history is the convenience trap which Satan had Felix ensnared in nearly two thousand years ago has successfully and repeatedly been used since. When you consider the demands of obedience and faithfulness to Christ, do not let Satan lure you into the convenience trap.