Making The Most of Every Opportunity

Time is a funny thing. When we are young, we think time is so long in coming. We give birthdays in half a year because we can’t wait to get older. As teenagers, we want to be a little older, drive, and have adult privileges. Then, as young adults, we step on the time conveyor, which always puts us in a hurry. We have to work a little harder to make more money. As time moves along, we can’t get enough time. We feel we are always stuck somewhere—in traffic, waiting for the light to turn green or waiting for the water to boil. Then, before we know it, we start to see the end of our time and wonder where it went.

We have become like the Queen, who informed the inhabitants of Wonderland to run very fast to get anywhere: “It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.”

The Apostle Paul talks to us about our time. He exhorts us to be good stewards of our time and see that we spend it wisely, not foolishly wasting it away. “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5: 15-17).

Not too long ago, I was in the drive-thru at McDonald’s when a lady cut in front of me. Then, I noticed a Christian sticker on her car. I think she felt bad about what she did, and maybe she remembered her sticker because she bought my order and waved. I wish I had bought more than coffee.

Charles Swindoll read a story about an 83-year-old man in the drive-thru waiting in line. A lady behind must have thought his order was taking too long because she started blowing her horn. “When I got to the window, I paid for her order, too.” After the cashier told her what I did, she started waving and mouthing, “Thank you!” When I got to the receiving window, I took both orders, making her start the queue all over again. Moral of the story: Be careful how you treat older people!

What Paul tells us literally means, buying up the time because the days are evil, and time is fleeting. As Christians, we must purposely engage in buying them back from the use of self if our lives are going to amount to anything. Becoming aware of how fragile our lives are and how short the time we have left is a powerful motivation to make our remaining days count. We can only do that if we allow God to give us the knowledge and wisdom needed to live life.

Changing Clothes

There is a worldwide fascination with fashion. Magazines and papers tell us what the rich and famous wear and how much they cost. One Gucci and Chanel outfit can cost $100,000. The most expensive dress in the world is valued at $30 million. People make fashion statements with their wardrobes, and thousands of others try to imitate them. However, these earthly garments are not the most valuable clothes in the world.

The Apostle Paul talks to the Ephesians and us about their clothes, not the ones on their bodies, but the ones on their souls. In this passage, Paul tells us what we need to put off and what to put on. It is the Wardrobe of the Redeemed. The Apostle tells them before they knew Christ, their hearts were hard and dead toward God, and because of that, they “indulged kind of impurity, and they are full of greed” (Ephesians 4:17-19). This a chilling description of how ugly we can be without Christ.

Not everyone sinks to the depths of depravity mentioned here. Yet, this is a valid picture of our world in general. Ask yourself, how was it possible for the atrocities to have been committed against children and babies in Israel on Oct 7, 2023? All lives without Christ are dominated by sin. Today’s movies, video games, and internet porn confirm the same truths about our world: hardness—darkness---deadness all lead to unrestrained sinfulness.

Paul urges the Ephesians to “put off your old self” (Eph 4:22). Our growing up demands we “put away” some things while putting on others. Paul says the first obvious change is the attitude, “to be made new in the attitude of your minds” (Eph 4:23). Isn’t it amazing that attitude is the window into our soul. It tells the world how we think and view everything.

It is hard to put off old habits and attitudes because we have long had them. Many of them we grew up with and learned from our parents. But that doesn’t mean we have to live them our entire lives. We can change, and God is willing and able to help us. This is the work of the Spirit to help us change our clothes. We have to shed our old habits every day whenever they pop up. Many Christians stumble because they don’t do this daily. If we want to wear the Redeemed Wardrobe, we must shed the old and put on the new.

Here is an example of what that wardrobe looks like: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” Galatians 5:22-23).

 

 

Brokenness

It is interesting how we use the word blessed. We say “God bless you” to someone who sneezes, maybe hoping we don’t get what they have. When I sneeze, people say, “God help us.” When something good happens, we say, “We got a huge blessing.” However, Jesus used the word very differently than we might expect. In his Sermon on the Mount, he gave us eight beatitudes or blessed attitudes that reflect what a follower of Christ should look like.

Jesus gave us eight descriptions of a blessed person in Matt 5:3-10. The first four are beatitudes of need, and the last four are beatitudes of action. The first and the last beatitudes end with “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” While these are descriptions of the transformed Christian life, they also depict the longing heart for heaven. The ultimate reward where there is no sin and the curse of sin is gone forever.

The first four beatitudes are:

·         “Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit”

·         “Blessed Are Those Who Mourn”

·         “Blessed Are The Meek”

·         “Blessed Are Those Who Hunger And Thirst For Righteousness”

The first, “the poor in spirit,” is the starting place for the Christian life. It’s not your family, not your occupation, not your money, not your success, not even your own morality. You bring nothing but your sinfulness, but you receive his grace and mercy—that is poor in spirit.

The second, “those who mourn,” describes the accompanying emotion of contrition and sorrowfulness for sin. The third, “the meek,” is the disposition of humility that comes from God’s transforming work in us. The fourth, “those who hunger for righteousness,” is a real hunger and thirst for righteousness and holiness.

Jesus told a parable that exemplifies these first four parables. Two men went to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisees prayed to be heard and thanked God for his goodness and that he was not like the tax collector. The tax collector did not open his mouth but hit himself in the chest and asked God to have mercy on him—a sinner. God heard the tax collector’s prayer but not the Pharisee’s (Luke 18:10-14). All four beatitudes are found in the tax collector.

The second four beatitudes are:

·         “Blessed Are The Merciful,”

·         “Blessed Are the Pure in Heart,”

·         “Blessed Are The Peacemakers,”

·         “Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted.”

The fifth, “the merciful,” are those who appreciate God’s forgiveness and are willing to forgive others. The sixth, “the pure in heart,” are those who aren’t motivated by man’s approval but serve God and others with an undivided heart. The seventh, “the peacemakers,” brings reconciliation between two people who are at odds with each other, between nations, and most importantly, between God and man through the gospel. The eight, “the persecuted,” are those reviled and rejected for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thirsty

 

Isaiah cuts to the chase as he talks to his people about their worship. The people were worshiping, but their worship was not about God; it was about them. They were going through the form but have yet to make any real effort. Giving God less than your best is not worship. The prophet voices God’s words, “But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses” (Isa 43:24).

God found their worship wearisome. He said his people had become impatient with their worship and a burden to endure. They were coming with unrepentant hearts, which offended God, and their worship became irksome to God.

It didn’t matter how many or how much the people were sacrificing; it was unacceptable to God. He wants his people to be unburdened of their sin and desirous of meeting with him, and yet they were coming to his temple with a burden and leaving burdened. God says, “I have not burdened you.” They brought their sin and left with their sin. They came with their worries and went away with them.

God intended that worship should unburden the sinner and that it lift and free us from our bondage and disappointment. When we serve God out of obligation and self-dependence, we not only do not find freedom in worship but also insult God. God promised to send his presence to his people, but only to the thirsty, “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants” (Isa 44:3).

God offers to pour his spirit on us. He doesn’t have to. We don’t deserve it, but he offers it anyway—that’s grace. The grace of God only ministers to the humble and the thirsty. Only the thirsty receive when God pours his spirit out.

When we are thirsty, we become dependent on God because we come to know him as “… Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first, and I am the last; apart from me, there is no God. Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.” (Isa 44:6-8). They know him; he alone is their source of strength and joy. They don’t look to anyone or anywhere else for satisfaction in this life. They know God is their redeemer; he is the LORD God Almighty—the first and the last. He is their Rock—their only Rock.

Memory Problems

 

Grumbling is one of the fastest ways to distort your vision and let in crippling discouragement. Complaining is blaming someone else for what we don’t like about our own life. Instead of looking for what we appreciate, we focus on what we despise. Grumbling will sabotage a workplace, a church, a family, or a community because it is deadly and destructive.

When Moses led the people of Israel through the wilderness on their journey to the Promised Land, they had a terrible habit of grumbling. If they were hungry or thirsty or tired or wanted something different to eat, they would complain. In Numbers chapter 11, the people began to crave other food than what they had to eat. They said, “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost — also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” (Numbers 11:5-6). It is incredible how selective their memory was of Egypt. They remember the abundance of fish at no cost, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic! One wonders if Egypt was so fantastic; why did they ever leave it in the first place. Do they even remember the slavery, the harsh taskmasters, the endless brick-making, and the construction of pharaoh’s slave cities? Their memory of the past was
faulty.

Grumbling is contagious and quickly passed on to others. Their distorted view of the past prevented them from seeing and appreciating the present. It also completely robbed their future. This habit of being discontented with what God has given to us is a bad habit.  It is a refusal to recognize God’s gifts.  Moses was so overcome with hearing the people’s grumbling; he began to grumble to God about the grumbling.  What he had done before in this instance was to pray for the people. As an intercessor, God responded to his prayers and intervened on behalf of the people.

The antidote for grumbling is found in seeing our God-given purpose. Only then will we appreciate our present circumstances, the people around us, and, yes, even our present challenges. Only then will we keep moving toward our God-given destiny. Instead of grumbling, let’s try praying for people and things we don’t like and allow God to help us see things their way, and most important, God’s way.

  (Parenting with a Long View) https://bovdbrooks.com/

My Soul Thirst for Thee

 

Enthusiasm is an intense excitement of feeling. Unfortunately, we have seen enthusiasm for Christ wane since we have been in this pandemic for a year. Where is the spirit to serve God? Where is the excitement to come to his house and worship and praise God? Some believers have traded their enthusiasm for Christ for fear of dying. Many Christians in the past have faced hard times but refused to give up their zeal for the Gospel. They saw something beyond their trials and lived with a sense of abandonment: “Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it” (Luke 17:33). Living in fear of the Covid virus is a losing proposition because the very life you want to save is diminished.

Our satisfaction in life comes from Christ and him alone. In his book Harm’s Way, Doug Stanton tells about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis on July 30, 1945. It was hit by a torpedo and was sunk in 12 minutes. Nine hundred men survived the sinking but would have to endure four days and five nights without food or water. Only 316 men survived the brutal ordeal of no water and sharks, but the worst was the hallucinations.  The chief medical officer, Haynes, recorded his own experience:

There was nothing I could do, nothing I do but give advice, bury the dead at sea, and try to keep the men from drinking the water. When the hot sun came out, and we were in this crystal clear ocean, we were so thirsty. You couldn’t believe it wasn’t good enough to drink. I had a hard time convincing the men they shouldn’t drink it. The real young ones…you take away their hope, you take away their water and food, they would drink the saltwater, and they would go fast. I can remember striking them who were drinking the salt water to try to stop them.  They would get dehydrated, then become maniacal.  There were mass hallucinations.  I was amazed at how everyone would see the same thing.  One man would see something, and then everyone else would see it.  Even I fought the hallucinations off and on.  Something always brought me back.[i]

We, too, have to fight delusions of this world that tell us to drink this world’s water.  God is the only one who can truly satisfy our thirst.  David tells us how to quench our thirst: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1-2).

 

(Parenting with a Long View) https://bovdbrooks.com/

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[i] Stanton, Doug. In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis,  Henry Holt and Co. Location 2275, Kindle Edition.