“Ask of Me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Psalm 2:8). When was the last time you begged God to save someone? When was the last time you woke up in the middle of the night with someone you know that is unsaved on your heart? When was the last time you saw a missionary presentation and either asked God to save those people, or even offered to go yourself? When was the last time you actually presented the Gospel to a person? When was the last time you went forward and knelt at the altar begging God to give you some spiritual fruit in your life?
Life is far too short for each of us to let even one opportunity pass. Time is one thing that can never be regained! It would be great (as a few movies have suggested), if we could reverse time and go back to change some things we have done, or to take opportunities we have missed. The reality is that we cannot do that; we must make good use of the opportunities we have in front of us today. If we do not look for the opportunities that God will place in front of us, there is a chance that we could walk away from them without noticing. It is important for us to ASK God to give us the opportunities and then to keep an eye open for them.
Some of the best opportunities to lead a person to Christ for me have come from the most unlikely situations. I recall one time going to visit an elderly lady from our church in our local hospital. When I entered the room looking for “Mrs. Jones,” I saw a man in the bed. I jokingly said to him, “I’m sorry, I was coming to visit Mrs. Jones, but you are obviously not Mrs. Jones.” He smiled and assured me he was not Mrs. Jones. As I turned to leave the room, I stopped and turned back to the man. I told him that there was a real possibility that God had led me to that room to meet him. After a few minutes of explaining the Gospel to him, the man trusted Jesus Christ as Savior. There are opportunities waiting … we ought to be asking.
There is one thing that is most precious to God today … it is not the value of the dollar, or the Euro, or the condition of the stock market, or the latest deadly disease. The thing that is most valuable to God today is that person you will pass today who is without Christ. God sent His only begotten Son to this sin-cursed earth to save sinners. You and I will pass plenty of sinners today. God has a heart for each of them … do you? Ask God to give you that heart today and then begin to look for the opportunities He will place before you. I know He will … He is not willing that any should perish!