Open doors, chance meetings, fleeting moments with treasured family and friends may soon pass us by. Carpe Diem (seize the moment) is a Biblical principle. Solomon said it best: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-11.
T I M E – we all have the same amount in the next 24 hours. Some people approach time with the attitude that there is never enough. Others seem to make the most of it. Hidden within the time you and I have today – will be opportunities. You will have them appear before you, so will I.
Opportunities await…
Opportunities will present themselves and we will react. We will wind up choosing one of three options: we’ll neglect or ignore, we’ll postpone or we’ll seize them.
Today will be filled with opportunities. As you walk around, you’ll encounter those moments where you have an open door to respond. It might be in moments with your kids, at work, with a friend, while you’re out at a store or as you are driving along.
Opportunities will present themselves.
The Apostle Paul reminds us in Colossians 4 to “make the most of every opportunity.”
2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And 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. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.
He’s inviting us to not view life through a passive gaze, but rather, with a proactive FOCUS. You and I, as followers of Christ, are partnered up with His work in this world. Often God’s best work is done, not in the grandiose events, but in the simple movements within one life at a time. So today, you and I have the opportunity to partner with His activity in the lives of those around us.
We’re to pray – to stay connected with God and then live with a watchful eye toward the opportunities that abound around us. The term ‘watchful’ – often in Scripture refers back to those that would stand in the ‘watch towers’ around the fortified cities. They would be the first to notice approaching visitors or advancing threats. Their eyes saw things that were around them faster than any others.
God is wanting his people today to have those same keen eyes – the vision to notice the opportunities where we can step in, step up and assist in God’s movements within peoples’ lives. We are invited to make the most of the opportunities that God opens our eyes to see and seize. It might be an opportunity to grow and develop ourselves. It might be a moment to step in and express God’s love in practical ways to benefit others. It might be a moment to use your words to further convey God’s hope, love, truth or wisdom.
I love the partnership that the Scriptures paint so vividly – we’re invited into seizing the moments God opens before us, to use us (Ephesians 2:10).
Today – opportunities will abound around you. Make the most of them…NOW is the Time.
Read Jack@jackschull.com.