Missed Opportunities
The world is full of mourners over missed opportunities. The innkeeper in the Christmas story is one of them. He was probably busy attending to the rich who arrived there to be registered for the census. The poor man with his pregnant wife on a donkey did not catch his eye. He probably shooed them away to the backyard, so they won’t be an eye-sore to the prestigious clients. Had he known that the poor woman was to give birth to the Messiah that night ... he would have “turned the inn upside down and sent the honourable guests to the stable,” as Amos Wells writes in his poem, “The Inn That Missed Its Chance.” The innkeeper missed the first Christmas while the shepherds were celebrating it in his backyard. That set me to think of the opportunities that we squander away. It is an old adage that opportunity knocks only once. Let’s keep our senses alert because opportunities missed outnumber those made use of.
Will you not repent?
Jesus lamented over Jerusalem that He had longed to gather her children under His wings like a hen — so many times. But she refused and turned away — that many times (Lk 13:34). Then one day destruction came upon her suddenly — but for Jerusalem it was a belated repentance!
Esau missed his opportunity to be in the genealogy of the Saviour when he sold away his birthright. Afterwards he could not repent though he regretted with tears (Heb 12:15-17). So watch out for Esau’s syndrome!
Opportunities are elusive. That’s why Paul pleads with everyone not to tamper with the grace of God. “Because,” he says, “now is the accepted time and today is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:1,2). Every convention, radio message, tract and personal plea by a soulwinner is an opportunity to be born again. You, who have heard the message of salvation time and time again, cannot afford to put off your response any longer. Later you may diligently seek the blessing with tears but not find it. God is calling you again. Will you again miss this opportunity? Right now open up your heart to Christ. He will change your life.
The other thief on the Cross missed a glorious paradise— not because he was more wicked than his fellow, but because he blew away his opportunity. Think of the thief who was with Christ in paradise on the day of crucifixion! Just one sentence between perdition and paradise. Will you not say that sentence today wholeheartedly?
Will you not marry God’s choice?
The closest relative could buy Ruth’s land. The offer was attractive and the relative was only too willing to buy. But there was a snag. Whoever bought the land should take Ruth as his wife to perpetuate the name of her late husband through his inheritance. On hearing this, the close relative withdrew his offer. He didn’t want to “ruin” his own inheritance. He wanted the land, not the lady. But Boaz bought the land and married Ruth. Very interestingly, though he was supposed to perpetuate the dead man’s name, the Bible credits Boaz as the forefather of Jesus Christ (Mt 1:5). Had the close relative known that the girl proposed was to be the foremother of “the Desire of All Nations” (Hag 2:7), he would have said, “I will” to her without a second thought. He would not have ruined his own inheritance, rather razzledazzled it.
There are far too many young people today whose eyes focus on money, job, qualification and beauty when it comes to marriage rather than the girl herself. Ruth’s close relative didn’t want her because of the snag that came along. Think of what he missed. Joseph would have missed the greatest opportunity if he had not taken Mary as his wife in obedience to the voice of God. Young man, young woman, choose the right ‘person’ and God will make the snag a sanctuary for you. Don’t miss a godly heritage for some worldly reason.
When my parents proposed a boy from a poor family and I agreed, some of my relatives were not happy. To think of what I would have missed if I had listened to them!
Will you not wait on the Lord?
John 20 may be taken as a metaphor to expound our missed opportunities in our devotional life. Mary Magdalene embraced the opportunity to choose that which should never be taken away from her. Let’s say Mary sat for her devotions. It was all dark and she couldn’t understand a thing. But with unflagging optimism she proceeded (Jn 20:1). As she persisted the obstacles rolled away. Yet it was a lifeless tomb experience. Then Mary ran into the city to inform the disciples and came back breathlessly panting to the tomb (like any other housewife who has to gingerly get up and attend to household chores in between). Minutes flew by. She was weeping about her lifeless devotion and a longing to see her Lord gripped her (v l1).When she looked inside the tomb she could see two angels. By now there was enough light to see through the tomb. There was a gradual dawn and enlightening (v12). She received a message from the angels (v13). She was not the one to be easily discouraged. She wanted to see “her” Lord. And sure enough Jesus was there, but she did not recognise Him. Now it was daylight and He called her by name, “Mary.” That was personal! Then He gave her the day’s message. She knew His voice. She recognised Him and talked to Him and fell at His feet (vv 16,17). To think of what she would have missed if she had not set the alarm clock (was she counting the ticks for the third day ?), got up, rubbed her eyes and run!
What a golden opportunity the disciples missed! Jesus had more than once told them that He would die and rise again on the third day. To that they reacted with anger (Mt 16:21,22), sorrow (Mt 17:23), indifference (Lk 9:22), avarice (Mk 10:34,35) and fear (Mk 9:32).Then Jesus died. Should they not have atleast checked what they had so repeatedly heard? That’s exactly how many of us miss the tryst with our Lord. When we start practising meditation and keep at it in spite of a lifeless experience and persevere not minding the obstacles, as days and months and years roll by, our dark experience will dawn and grow brighter and brighter like the noon-day sun revealing our Lord and leading us to a walking and talking experience with Him. Everyday the Lord has something to talk to us about. Each day is precious. Let us not miss our daily bread.
Will you not help the needy?
For the rich man opportunity was sitting at his doorstep by the name Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31). He did not narrowly let go his chance. He broadly, blatantly, boastfully missed it. He could have ordered his servants to throw away the scraps from his table to the emaciated beggar. He not only missed entertaining angels, he missed becoming like an angel and being in the abode of angels too. What we do not do to one of the least we do not do to Jesus (Mt 25:45). Let every beggar’s face reflect the face of Jesus. Let every stranger in trouble remind us, he could be an angel.
A friend told us how she begged passers-by for help from inside a jammed vehicle. Even a team of pastors stopped their car to “see” the accident but would not so much as help her out of the vehicle with dead bodies, but moved away. Let us act, for they could be one of the “least.” Rebekah was not too tired to draw water for a stranger and his ten camels. By that act of kindness she was unwittingly signing a prosperous marriage contract.
A waylaid man was fighting for his life on the road to Jericho. A priest came down that road “by chance.” And what a chance it was to give life to a dying man ! But when he saw the half-dead man he angled across to the other side leaving him to die. The Levite also turned a blind eye to the macabre sight. But a certain Samaritan “had compassion” like Jesus. He didn’t mind the delay in his business affairs, nor the money spent, neither the labour of carrying a dying man alone on his donkey. What if he died on the way ? What about standing as a witness in the court and burial expenses ? He didn’t count all that. He didn’t want the opportunity to do good slip by. Let us “go and do likewise.”
Will you not honour your parents?
Orpah loved her mother-in-law, but didn’t want to waste her young life caring for an old lady. Was it worth committing herself to a future with a dead end ? But Ruth, unflustered by the turn of events took upon herself the responsibility with uninhibited loyalty. What law did force her to benefact a dead husband’s mother ? Virtue walks the second mile. Then the kaleidoscope rolled. The first praise that Boaz showered on Ruth was for what she did for her heart-broken ma-in-law (Ruth 2:11). May be he was on the look out for a humane girl who could be his wife and care for his ageing mother. And he found the girl in Ruth. Legally Boaz had to marry Ruth if he bought her land. But there was no law demanding that he take in “her” mother-in-law under his roof. But like Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, Boaz’s righteousness exceeded the Old Testament righteousness of the scribes and the pharisees (Mt 5:20).Parents and in-laws are not with us always. Think of the pain with which they bore you; the times of your sickness when they sat by your bedside for hours and days and weeks; the gifts of food, dress, education, discipline, faith and all that they showered on you. Shower love on them when they visit you. Do all that is possible to make them happy. Life is short. They may be snatched away from their earthly abode any time. Your words or deeds should not come back to haunt your memory but heal your hurt that you had done what you could. Throwing some flowers on their grave will not erase the guilt.
Much the same way parents should not miss the opportunities to enjoy the happiness children bring. Childhood and youth do not wait for anyone. Many are the parents who have been cruel to their children, ignored them, neglected them and cried later because they could not turn the hands of the clock back.
Will you not scorn materialism?
Elisha was quite a rich guy supervising eleven ploughs while he himself rode the twelfth. But when Elijah threw the mantle on him he “left the oxen” and ran after Elijah. He even celebrated the occasion with a feast (1 Ki 19:19-21). He grabbed the opportunity and became Elijah’s successor. If Gehazi also had a mind to “leave and cleave” the doubly powerful mantle of Elisha would have fallen on him with 22 power. But Gehazi’s faith was in the magical powers of Elisha’s rod, not on God (2 Ki 4:31). His was a commercialized religion capitalizing on miracles (2 Ki 5:22). Elisha’s heart went after Gehazi (5:26) ; but Gehazi’s went after gifts. Not the mantle but the malicious disease fell on him. How sadly he missed his opportunity and became a jaded individual.
For Judas, opportunity did not knock once. It was knocking all the time. Think of all the sermons of Jesus he heard. But each time he deferred to give up his material-mindedness and continued to live as a thief. He was given a last opportunity to repent after betraying Jesus. Would not Jesus, who forgave those who nailed Him to the cross, forgive the one who betrayed Him too? But the disenchanted Judas chose to kill himself and thus lost his place assigned him in the ministry to another (Acts 1:20).
Will you not plead for the downtrodden?
Missed opportunities are not always kind and loving deeds. In a bad world, it is not enough to do good. We should also prevent evil. We should step out in offence. Goliath was challenging the army of Israel. The men who saw the disaster approaching were powerless to prevent it —till David came.
We are the Davids for today’s Goliaths.
One day my husband and I were watching two tribal men bringing down honey from a tall tree, faces stung by bees. We waited since they offered to sell. By the time a man in police uniform arrived and started intimidating them that the tree belonged to the Collector’s office and they had not got official permission to take down the honeycomb, and so on. Actually the tree was outside the compound wall. We told the police man not to harass the poor. The dispirited tribals talked to the man and disclosed to us that he demanded Rs. 60/-. After about an hour of hassle we decided to move out. I said, “I am not interested in the honey but I hate to leave these despondent tribals in the hands of the unscrupulous fellow.” My husband immediately took out a diary and demanded his name and address. At that, the chagrined fellow quickly pulled himself free and literally fled. It was such a jubilant sight to see the two tribesmen hollering and chasing the fugitive ! Now we are picking up more courage.
Job was not as soft as we think. He broke the fangs of the wicked and plucked the victim from his teeth (Job 29:17). If civic-minded citizens decide not to miss opportunities to stamp out the creeping menace of anarchy and speak for the poor we can create ripples in our locality. Let your voices be heard. Not to act is cowardice and submission to evil. Don’t be a passive spectator of events. “The cowardly shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone”(Rev 21:8).
Negative opportunities
And there are the negative opportunities. God puts before us trials for self-control. There are opportunities not to lash out our tongue, to take revenge, to retaliate, to hate, to murmur and complain, to fight, to lose our patience, to curse when being cursed, to do evil for evil, etc. Some of the gems of our jewel box are words we swallow wed, reactions we quelled, sensations we quashed and anger we diffused. Shall we develop a hobby to collect more such precious stones ? May be an era of missed opportunities has rolled by. Keep your eyes wide open. Another era loaded with opportunities is rolling in!
Dr. Lilian Stanley
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91 9843511943
lilianstanley@gmail.com
Blessing Youth Mission
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91-416-2242943, +91-416-2248943
hq@bymonline.org
www.bymonline.org
Click here for more options
To buy books written by Dr. Lilian Stanley, kindly reach to us in the follwing address
Blessing Literature Centre
21/11 West Coovam River Road,
Chintadripet,
Chennai 600 002, India.
+91-44-28450411, 8806270699
blc@bymonline.org
Missed Opportunities
The world is full of mourners over missed opportunities. The innkeeper in the Christmas story is one of them. He was probably busy attending to the rich who arrived there to be registered for the census. The poor man with his pregnant wife on a donkey did not catch his eye. He probably shooed them away to the backyard, so they won’t be an eye-sore to the prestigious clients. Had he known that the poor woman was to give birth to the Messiah that night ... he would have “turned the inn upside down and sent the honourable guests to the stable,” as Amos Wells writes in his poem, “The Inn That Missed Its Chance.” The innkeeper missed the first Christmas while the shepherds were celebrating it in his backyard. That set me to think of the opportunities that we squander away. It is an old adage that opportunity knocks only once. Let’s keep our senses alert because opportunities missed outnumber those made use of.
Will you not repent?
Jesus lamented over Jerusalem that He had longed to gather her children under His wings like a hen — so many times. But she refused and turned away — that many times (Lk 13:34). Then one day destruction came upon her suddenly — but for Jerusalem it was a belated repentance!
Esau missed his opportunity to be in the genealogy of the Saviour when he sold away his birthright. Afterwards he could not repent though he regretted with tears (Heb 12:15-17). So watch out for Esau’s syndrome!
Opportunities are elusive. That’s why Paul pleads with everyone not to tamper with the grace of God. “Because,” he says, “now is the accepted time and today is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:1,2). Every convention, radio message, tract and personal plea by a soulwinner is an opportunity to be born again. You, who have heard the message of salvation time and time again, cannot afford to put off your response any longer. Later you may diligently seek the blessing with tears but not find it. God is calling you again. Will you again miss this opportunity? Right now open up your heart to Christ. He will change your life.
The other thief on the Cross missed a glorious paradise— not because he was more wicked than his fellow, but because he blew away his opportunity. Think of the thief who was with Christ in paradise on the day of crucifixion! Just one sentence between perdition and paradise. Will you not say that sentence today wholeheartedly?
Will you not marry God’s choice?
The closest relative could buy Ruth’s land. The offer was attractive and the relative was only too willing to buy. But there was a snag. Whoever bought the land should take Ruth as his wife to perpetuate the name of her late husband through his inheritance. On hearing this, the close relative withdrew his offer. He didn’t want to “ruin” his own inheritance. He wanted the land, not the lady. But Boaz bought the land and married Ruth. Very interestingly, though he was supposed to perpetuate the dead man’s name, the Bible credits Boaz as the forefather of Jesus Christ (Mt 1:5). Had the close relative known that the girl proposed was to be the foremother of “the Desire of All Nations” (Hag 2:7), he would have said, “I will” to her without a second thought. He would not have ruined his own inheritance, rather razzledazzled it.
There are far too many young people today whose eyes focus on money, job, qualification and beauty when it comes to marriage rather than the girl herself. Ruth’s close relative didn’t want her because of the snag that came along. Think of what he missed. Joseph would have missed the greatest opportunity if he had not taken Mary as his wife in obedience to the voice of God. Young man, young woman, choose the right ‘person’ and God will make the snag a sanctuary for you. Don’t miss a godly heritage for some worldly reason.
When my parents proposed a boy from a poor family and I agreed, some of my relatives were not happy. To think of what I would have missed if I had listened to them!
Will you not wait on the Lord?
John 20 may be taken as a metaphor to expound our missed opportunities in our devotional life. Mary Magdalene embraced the opportunity to choose that which should never be taken away from her. Let’s say Mary sat for her devotions. It was all dark and she couldn’t understand a thing. But with unflagging optimism she proceeded (Jn 20:1). As she persisted the obstacles rolled away. Yet it was a lifeless tomb experience. Then Mary ran into the city to inform the disciples and came back breathlessly panting to the tomb (like any other housewife who has to gingerly get up and attend to household chores in between). Minutes flew by. She was weeping about her lifeless devotion and a longing to see her Lord gripped her (v l1).When she looked inside the tomb she could see two angels. By now there was enough light to see through the tomb. There was a gradual dawn and enlightening (v12). She received a message from the angels (v13). She was not the one to be easily discouraged. She wanted to see “her” Lord. And sure enough Jesus was there, but she did not recognise Him. Now it was daylight and He called her by name, “Mary.” That was personal! Then He gave her the day’s message. She knew His voice. She recognised Him and talked to Him and fell at His feet (vv 16,17). To think of what she would have missed if she had not set the alarm clock (was she counting the ticks for the third day ?), got up, rubbed her eyes and run!
What a golden opportunity the disciples missed! Jesus had more than once told them that He would die and rise again on the third day. To that they reacted with anger (Mt 16:21,22), sorrow (Mt 17:23), indifference (Lk 9:22), avarice (Mk 10:34,35) and fear (Mk 9:32).Then Jesus died. Should they not have atleast checked what they had so repeatedly heard? That’s exactly how many of us miss the tryst with our Lord. When we start practising meditation and keep at it in spite of a lifeless experience and persevere not minding the obstacles, as days and months and years roll by, our dark experience will dawn and grow brighter and brighter like the noon-day sun revealing our Lord and leading us to a walking and talking experience with Him. Everyday the Lord has something to talk to us about. Each day is precious. Let us not miss our daily bread.
Will you not help the needy?
For the rich man opportunity was sitting at his doorstep by the name Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31). He did not narrowly let go his chance. He broadly, blatantly, boastfully missed it. He could have ordered his servants to throw away the scraps from his table to the emaciated beggar. He not only missed entertaining angels, he missed becoming like an angel and being in the abode of angels too. What we do not do to one of the least we do not do to Jesus (Mt 25:45). Let every beggar’s face reflect the face of Jesus. Let every stranger in trouble remind us, he could be an angel.
A friend told us how she begged passers-by for help from inside a jammed vehicle. Even a team of pastors stopped their car to “see” the accident but would not so much as help her out of the vehicle with dead bodies, but moved away. Let us act, for they could be one of the “least.” Rebekah was not too tired to draw water for a stranger and his ten camels. By that act of kindness she was unwittingly signing a prosperous marriage contract.
A waylaid man was fighting for his life on the road to Jericho. A priest came down that road “by chance.” And what a chance it was to give life to a dying man ! But when he saw the half-dead man he angled across to the other side leaving him to die. The Levite also turned a blind eye to the macabre sight. But a certain Samaritan “had compassion” like Jesus. He didn’t mind the delay in his business affairs, nor the money spent, neither the labour of carrying a dying man alone on his donkey. What if he died on the way ? What about standing as a witness in the court and burial expenses ? He didn’t count all that. He didn’t want the opportunity to do good slip by. Let us “go and do likewise.”
Will you not honour your parents?
Orpah loved her mother-in-law, but didn’t want to waste her young life caring for an old lady. Was it worth committing herself to a future with a dead end ? But Ruth, unflustered by the turn of events took upon herself the responsibility with uninhibited loyalty. What law did force her to benefact a dead husband’s mother ? Virtue walks the second mile. Then the kaleidoscope rolled. The first praise that Boaz showered on Ruth was for what she did for her heart-broken ma-in-law (Ruth 2:11). May be he was on the look out for a humane girl who could be his wife and care for his ageing mother. And he found the girl in Ruth. Legally Boaz had to marry Ruth if he bought her land. But there was no law demanding that he take in “her” mother-in-law under his roof. But like Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, Boaz’s righteousness exceeded the Old Testament righteousness of the scribes and the pharisees (Mt 5:20).Parents and in-laws are not with us always. Think of the pain with which they bore you; the times of your sickness when they sat by your bedside for hours and days and weeks; the gifts of food, dress, education, discipline, faith and all that they showered on you. Shower love on them when they visit you. Do all that is possible to make them happy. Life is short. They may be snatched away from their earthly abode any time. Your words or deeds should not come back to haunt your memory but heal your hurt that you had done what you could. Throwing some flowers on their grave will not erase the guilt.
Much the same way parents should not miss the opportunities to enjoy the happiness children bring. Childhood and youth do not wait for anyone. Many are the parents who have been cruel to their children, ignored them, neglected them and cried later because they could not turn the hands of the clock back.
Will you not scorn materialism?
Elisha was quite a rich guy supervising eleven ploughs while he himself rode the twelfth. But when Elijah threw the mantle on him he “left the oxen” and ran after Elijah. He even celebrated the occasion with a feast (1 Ki 19:19-21). He grabbed the opportunity and became Elijah’s successor. If Gehazi also had a mind to “leave and cleave” the doubly powerful mantle of Elisha would have fallen on him with 22 power. But Gehazi’s faith was in the magical powers of Elisha’s rod, not on God (2 Ki 4:31). His was a commercialized religion capitalizing on miracles (2 Ki 5:22). Elisha’s heart went after Gehazi (5:26) ; but Gehazi’s went after gifts. Not the mantle but the malicious disease fell on him. How sadly he missed his opportunity and became a jaded individual.
For Judas, opportunity did not knock once. It was knocking all the time. Think of all the sermons of Jesus he heard. But each time he deferred to give up his material-mindedness and continued to live as a thief. He was given a last opportunity to repent after betraying Jesus. Would not Jesus, who forgave those who nailed Him to the cross, forgive the one who betrayed Him too? But the disenchanted Judas chose to kill himself and thus lost his place assigned him in the ministry to another (Acts 1:20).
Will you not plead for the downtrodden?
Missed opportunities are not always kind and loving deeds. In a bad world, it is not enough to do good. We should also prevent evil. We should step out in offence. Goliath was challenging the army of Israel. The men who saw the disaster approaching were powerless to prevent it —till David came.
We are the Davids for today’s Goliaths.
One day my husband and I were watching two tribal men bringing down honey from a tall tree, faces stung by bees. We waited since they offered to sell. By the time a man in police uniform arrived and started intimidating them that the tree belonged to the Collector’s office and they had not got official permission to take down the honeycomb, and so on. Actually the tree was outside the compound wall. We told the police man not to harass the poor. The dispirited tribals talked to the man and disclosed to us that he demanded Rs. 60/-. After about an hour of hassle we decided to move out. I said, “I am not interested in the honey but I hate to leave these despondent tribals in the hands of the unscrupulous fellow.” My husband immediately took out a diary and demanded his name and address. At that, the chagrined fellow quickly pulled himself free and literally fled. It was such a jubilant sight to see the two tribesmen hollering and chasing the fugitive ! Now we are picking up more courage.
Job was not as soft as we think. He broke the fangs of the wicked and plucked the victim from his teeth (Job 29:17). If civic-minded citizens decide not to miss opportunities to stamp out the creeping menace of anarchy and speak for the poor we can create ripples in our locality. Let your voices be heard. Not to act is cowardice and submission to evil. Don’t be a passive spectator of events. “The cowardly shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone”(Rev 21:8).
Negative opportunities
And there are the negative opportunities. God puts before us trials for self-control. There are opportunities not to lash out our tongue, to take revenge, to retaliate, to hate, to murmur and complain, to fight, to lose our patience, to curse when being cursed, to do evil for evil, etc. Some of the gems of our jewel box are words we swallow wed, reactions we quelled, sensations we quashed and anger we diffused. Shall we develop a hobby to collect more such precious stones ? May be an era of missed opportunities has rolled by. Keep your eyes wide open. Another era loaded with opportunities is rolling in!
Dr. Lilian Stanley
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91 9843511943
lilianstanley@gmail.com
Blessing Youth Mission
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91-416-2242943, +91-416-2248943
hq@bymonline.org
www.bymonline.org
Click here for more options
To buy books written by Dr. Lilian Stanley, kindly reach to us in the follwing address
Blessing Literature Centre
21/11 West Coovam River Road,
Chintadripet,
Chennai 600 002, India.
+91-44-28450411, Mob:8806270699
blc@bymonline.org
