Here in these verses Paul exhorted
believers to use their time to full and to make the most of every opportunity
that comes to them. The world Apostle Paul and the believers lived was hostile
to Christianity and filled with immorality therefore he told them not to lose
any opportunity to please God and do His will that they may win their
persecutors for the Kingdom of God. Dear friends once the time goes by then it
never comes back likewise an opportunity lost will never return. An old Chinese
adage says, "Opportunity has a forelock so you can seize it when you meet
it. Once it is past, you cannot seize it again." The brevity of life is a
strong argument for making the best use of the opportunities God gives us.
The
story is told of a young man who wished to marry the farmer's beautiful
daughter. He went to the farmer to ask his permission. The farmer looked him
over and responded, "Son, go stand out in that field and I'm going to
release three bulls, one at a time. If you can catch the tail of any one of the
three bulls, you can marry my daughter." The young man stood in the
pasture awaiting the first bull. The barn door opened and out ran the biggest,
meanest-looking bull he had ever seen. He decided that one of the next bulls
had to be a better choice than this one, so he ran over to the side and let the
bull pass through the pasture out the back gate. The barn door opened again
unbelievable he had never seen anything so big and fierce in his life. It stood
- pawing the ground, grunting, slinging slobber - as it eyed him. Whatever the
next bull was like, it had to be a better choice than this one. He ran to the
fence and let the bull pass through the pasture, out the back gate. The door
opened a third time. A smile came across his face. This was the weakest,
scrawniest little bull he had ever seen. This one was his bull. As the bull
came running by, he positioned himself just right and jumped at just the exact
moment. He grabbed... but the bull had no tail!
Life
is full of opportunities. Some will be easy to take advantage of, some will be
difficult. But once we let them pass (often in hopes of something better),
those opportunities may never again be available. In the Book of Acts, King Agrippa was
given an opportunity to accept Christ as his Savior Bible clearly states the
king was almost persuaded by the Apostle to be a Christian but something held
him back. I wonder how much he regrets that missed opportunity today as he
lives out his eternal damnation.
The
same thing is also true of opportunities to serve and to live for Christ. God
often opens doors of opportunities to speak up for Him, opportunities to
minister to someone who is hurting or in need, opportunities to make an
influence on the world around us. Make sure if we allow them to pass by
(perhaps because we are waiting for something easier to come along), we may
miss out on them altogether.
Finally,
every opportunity that God gives you demands a steadfast, persevering spirit.
Ambition alone is not enough. You've got to be willing to take risks, lay it
all on the line, and even be willing to lose it all in order to seize an
opportunity. Your attitude and perspective about the situation has everything
to do with your outcome. When the armies of Israel saw Goliath, they said,
"He's too big to kill!" When David saw Goliath, he said, "He's
too big to miss!" Same problem, different perspective! Someone once said
that if all you see is obstacles, then you've taken your eyes off the goals.
You're no longer focused on your vision. You're no longer focused on Jesus. If
you hear someone talking about all their problems, that's a good indication
that they've taken their eyes off of Jesus!
God never gives us opportunities without first giving us the ability to
achieve them. So, quit making excuses.
No comments:
Post a Comment