My friend JAP quotes the Apostle Paul today in a great message.
Colossians 4:2-6—Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Opportunity!
The dictionary says opportunity is a set of circumstances making it possible to do something. God calls us to opportunities in many ways. Some sounding loudly like the trumpet when God calls His church home, or softly like a plea for a special moment with Him.
God will often call us to specially prepared “divine appointments”. But will our eyes be open to see, and our ears to hear? When God calls us with a loud voice we listen, but when He speaks in a gentle whisper as He did with Elijah (1 Kings 19), does the noise of daily living and obligations crowd out the sweet sound of His voice?
We cannot place God on a shelf. “I will go Father, but not today—I am too busy.” That opportunity given to us may be lost for eternity! When we surrendered to Christ when He died on that cross, it was not with the thought that “I give you part of myself, but I must reserve a part for my own use.” No! We surrendered all.
Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
When we consider the heartache and pain a loving Heavenly Father must have felt as He offered His most precious possession as a sacrifice for us, who were lost in hatred and rebellion against that very One who was being offered, we can only imagine the grief and sorrow still heaped upon the Father’s heart today, from those who continue to refuse His offer of love and salvation. The only opportunity for the new beginning He promises.
As the Father’s born-again children, we are obligated to remain alert for every door He opens. For the message of hope and deliverance offered from death on that cross, that became an altar of forgiveness as the only possible cleansing, for the filth of sin flowed in a Savior’s blood!
“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” (Leviticus 17:11)
When we delay opportunities to proclaim the mystery of Christ to the lost, are we not condemning them to more misery until God sends someone else to fulfill the opportunity we missed? If we see our children facing terrible danger, we are the first to be there with help—to change disaster into joy. Should we not feel the same obligation as we see the faithless lost in the catastrophe leading to eternal separation from the One who offers the opportunity of changing everlasting disaster to peace?
If we delay God while we pursue our own interests, have we not forgotten Paul’s warning: “The god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:5)
Shouldn’t the grief and sorrow that fills the Father’s heart at the rejection of any who are called to the cross, touch our own hearts with the sadness we must face, if we fail to light that candle of hope? A missed opportunity to lead them one step closer to an eternity without the perfect ending of life to be spent in the special spiritual place God has prepared for those who respond to His love—eternity with Him in HEAVEN!
Amen!