To Encourage You

Ephesians 5:15-17 “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Are you making the most of the opportunities God is giving you to serve Him?  It’s a sobering question, but it’s one that God would have us to ask ourselves, as the verses above point out.  Each one of us has a limited amount of time.  We have only so many days to live, and within those days we have only so many opportunities to make the best use of that time.  As Christians, we are called to be alert to what’s going on around us. We are told to be wise, not foolish, in how we number our days.  We are commanded to understand what the Lord’s will is. 

So how do we know these things and how do we actually obey this command?  For one, we are told to be careful how we walk. We are to look ahead and step carefully. And how do we do this?  The Bible gives us the following answer: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).  As we study the Word of God, He opens our eyes to the dangers that lie in our path as well as the opportunities He gives us to walk wisely rather than as fools.  Proverbs 2:6 tells us that “The Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”  Coupled to this is the need to pray.  Although the pages of Scripture contain the very wisdom of the Living God, we need to have our eyes opened to see what is revealed in its pages. We hear this acknowledgment in the words of the psalmist as he prays “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18), and we hear it with these words from the New Testament “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, Who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to Him” (James 1:5). 

You see, God wants us to make the most of every opportunity more than we do.  Any prayer that is in line with such a desire will surely be answered.  But do we pray like this? Do we read His Word and ask Him to teach it to us? Do we pray that He will open our eyes to the opportunities He is constantly giving us: opportunities to help someone; to love our spouse, our neighbors, and even our enemies; to teach our children and grandchildren the Word of God; to encourage someone who needs lifted up; to share the gospel with those whom God has placed in our life; to choose good rather than evil; and to give. Surely our opportunities are endless – but do we make the most of them? Do we even care to? 

So how can we waste those opportunities?  What obstacles can lie in our path? What evil is out there to hinder the opportunities God gives?  A few suggestions: laziness, prayerlessness, ignorance, ambivalence, selfishness, carelessness, fear, and busyness with “urgent” or trivial things in comparison to eternal things. 

May God help us to realize that although He gives us many opportunities to serve and glorify Him, we can get in the way of those opportunities because of the many weaknesses of our flesh.  And besides this, we have an enemy – the devil – who is actively seeking to rob us of opportunities through the temptations he is constantly scattering in our path; hindrances, diversions, and all manner of other things that would trip us up and send us on a lesser way if we aren’t watchful to his devices. 

You see, one day we will stand before our Lord and what we’ve done with our opportunities will be put to the test.  The day by day, moment by moment, decisions we’ve made and actions we’ve taken to serve the Lord – or not – will be revealed.  We have been told by our Lord that “if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done” (1 Corinthians 3:12-13).  May God help us to number our days with the wisdom to make the most of the precious opportunities He gives us.  May we lay up “gold, silver, and precious stones” in heaven by actions and words that glorify Him, rather than the “wood, hay, and straw” of other things, much less valuable things, but things that can so easily consume our opportunities, nevertheless.