11. "I Am Not Ready Yet": The Most Common Excuse of Those Who Refuse Conversion

Among the most frequent responses given to those who call souls out of error is the phrase: "I am just not there yet." This expression appears gentle, humble, and patient. In reality, Sacred Scripture and the Fathers identify it as one of the most dangerous forms of resistance to grace, because it disguises refusal as prudence.

Our Lord Himself condemns delayed obedience. When a man asked to follow Christ only after burying his father, Christ replied: "Let the dead bury their dead" (Mt. 8:22). This was not a rejection of filial duty, but a condemnation of postponement when truth has already been recognized. Grace does not wait upon comfort.

Scripture repeatedly warns against delay. "Today if you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts" (Ps. 94:8; Heb. 3:7-8). The command is immediate. There is no allowance for a season of indecision once truth is known. To delay is already to harden the heart.

The Fathers are explicit. St. Augustine teaches that the excuse of delay is itself a sin against the Holy Ghost when truth has been sufficiently presented.[1] He explains that many perish not because they deny truth, but because they refuse to submit to it when it confronts them. Delay becomes a form of disobedience cloaked in humility.

St. John Chrysostom warns that postponement dulls the conscience and trains the will to resist.[2] The soul learns to say "later" until it can no longer say "yes." What begins as hesitation ends in blindness.

This excuse is especially prevalent among those attached to false traditional groups. Members of the SSPX often admit the errors of Vatican II yet insist they are "not ready" to break communion. Members of the FSSP frequently acknowledge doctrinal contradictions yet claim the time is "not right" to confront them. In both cases, truth is subordinated to stability, family peace, numbers, or habit.

Such groups function as wolves in sheep's clothing precisely because they validate delay. They reassure souls that recognizing error without acting against it is sufficient. This directly contradicts the Gospel. "He that knoweth the will of his lord, and doth not prepare himself... shall be beaten with many stripes" (Lk. 12:47).

The saints did not tolerate such excuses. St. Francis de Sales teaches that true charity demands opposition to heresy, not patience with it.[3] To say "I am not there yet" after recognizing falsehood is to prefer peace over truth. This preference is a form of hatred of God, since hatred in moral theology is defined as choosing one good against another that ought to be preferred.

Our Lord exposes the interior motive behind delay when He says: "Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light" (Jn. 3:19). The refusal is not intellectual but moral. Truth threatens attachments. Delay protects them.

This is why those who speak plainly are often labeled "know-it-alls." Scripture foretells this reaction: "They will not endure sound doctrine... and will turn away their hearing from the truth" (2 Tim. 4:3-4). The accusation is not against pride, but against clarity. The one who speaks decisively exposes the conscience of the one who delays.

St. Gregory the Great notes that souls resent those who urge immediate conversion because such exhortations remove excuses.[4] The rebuke is experienced as cruelty by those who have grown comfortable in compromise.

Therefore, the phrase "I am not there yet" must be exposed for what it is: a refusal to obey under the guise of discernment. God grants time for ignorance, not for recognized truth. Once the soul knows, it must act.

In times of apostasy, delay is lethal. The longer one remains in communion with error, the more the will is shaped by it. Conversion postponed becomes conversion endangered.

The Gospel does not call men to gradual truth, but to immediate obedience. "Follow Me" is not an invitation to reflection, but a command to act.