“Missed Opportunity”
3/2/25
2 Timothy 4:21 “Do your utmost to come before winter.”
I read recently about a married woman who decided to go on her own private vacation to Europe. She went from the Midwest to London and then she was planning to go to Paris, Rome, and Vienna.
When she got to London she called her husband back home in the Midwest and said, “How are you doing?” Her husband said, “I’m doing fine but our cat Lucy died.”
So his wife starts bawling her eyes out on the phone. But when she regains her composure, she says, “You insensitive brute of a man, why did I ever marry someone like you? You just have no concern about my feelings.”
The husband said, “Well, what was I supposed to have said?”
The wife thinks for a moment and she says, “Well, when I got to London and I called you as I just did, you could have said, ‘Lucy, our cat is on the roof.’
When I got to Paris you could have said, ‘Lucy, our cat fell down from the roof.’
When I got to Rome you could have said, ‘Lucy’s not doing so well.’
When I got to Vienna you could have said, ‘Lucy died.'”
You could have let me down easy!
Then the wife said, “By the way, how is mother?” The husband responded, “She’s on the roof.”
—The moral of the story is that the wife thought her husband had bad timing with delivering news!
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The Bible is very clear that timing is everything.
—Being on time is more than simply making it to an appointment on time.
—Being on time is also to act while an opportunity from God is in front of you.
Paul is telling Timothy that if he waits till winter to visit him he may lose his opportunity to do so.
Winters were harsh and travel difficulties were multiplied in winter.
So we hear emotion in Paul’s words—Come soon, come quickly, come while you can, for the opportunity may pass you by.
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Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 talks about there being a time for everything, including a right time to respond to opportunities.
Ecc. 3:1 “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.”
LB “There is a right time for everything.”
This emphasizes the importance of seizing the moment and not missing out on what God places before you.
—Opportunities have a shelf life, an expiration date.
When opportunity knocks you still have to get up and answer the door!
Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, “..make the very most of your time [on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence], because the days are [filled with] evil.”—Eph. 5:16
—Every purpose of God is granted a time frame for its fulfillment.
Opportunities don’t always hang around and wait for us to get our act together.
We’ve all heard the phrase “Opportunity knocks only once; you never know if it will come back by.”
So true!
Times change, people change, seasons change, circumstances change, so God-given opportunities require a timely response!
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There are heaven-sent opportunities God gives for us to grow and fulfill our purpose!
The Apostle Paul testified, “…for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”—1 Cor. 16:9
And, “Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel…a door was opened to me by the Lord,”—2 Cor. 2:12
Jesus described Himself as THE one who opens doors for His people,
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens,”—Rev. 3:7
And then He told them, “I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it.”—Rev 3:8
The doors of opportunity God opens no man can shut, but WE can fail to respond to them.
And missed opportunities can also bring consequences like:
redirection of plans,
or the loss of potential growth and blessings.
So it’s important to be attentive to God’s leading and promptings—and to actively seek His will in our lives so that we don’t miss the opportunities He sends our way!
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Now in light of these things, I want to look at three of the most important opportunities to respond to when they come our way:
• Salvation
• Reconciliation and healing
• Ministry
FIRST,
I. Salvation
In Mark 10:17-27 the Bible tells the story of a rich young ruler who got up one day and decided to go find the young rabbi causing such a stir, Jesus by name, to ask him a question.
On finding him he asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life.”
Jesus mentioned a few of the 10 commandments to which the young man replied, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
Jesus answered back, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Vs. 21)
Now look at what’s happening here.
This young man is now staring the greatest, God-sent opportunity of his life!
Sadly, he turned the opportunity away.
“But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.” (Vs. 22)
Not only would this opportunity have changed his life on earth, it would have secured his eternal destiny!
Let me ask you a question:
Did that young man know when he got up that morning that the greatest opportunity of his life would come his way? No!
Opportunities from God rarely announce their arrival—they just come!
Or, how bout the woman at the well?
Did she imagine when she got up one morning and set out to Jacob’s well to draw water as she did all other mornings that the greatest opportunity of her life would be waiting for her?
Some of you sitting here today—you’re here by invitation, or maybe you saw our sign, or caught us on radio—and you’re not as of this moment a totally committed Christian.
Has it occurred to you that this is your God-given opportunity to come to Jesus?
The Bible says that when that opportunity comes, we should quickly respond!
Listen to Jesus’s words to the people of Jerusalem:
Luke 12:54-56 “Then He also said to the multitudes, ‘Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is. 55 And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is. 56 Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?”
In other words, the opportunity for your salvation is right in front of you and you’re letting it pass you by!
“For God says, ‘At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.’ Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.”—2 Cor 6:2
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Then a 2nd opportunity God sends is for:
II. Reconciliation and healing
Listen to what Jesus taught on this:
Matt 5:23-24 “If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.”
Notice how Jesus stressed the need to move quickly on the opportunity for reconciliation and healing of relationships.
This is because to wait too long allows someone’s heart to harden and the opportunity will be missed!
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And finally, a third opportunity we don’t want to miss is for:
III. Ministry
The opportunity to reach out to others in the name of Jesus and for His glory!
Gal 6:10 “Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.”
God is always providing opportunities to reach out to others, particularly (but not only) believers that need encouragement,
prayer,
love,
a listening ear, and so on.
It says, “when the opportunity comes, seize the moment!”
I close with quoting our text again, “Do your utmost to come before winter,”—before the door closes and circumstances no longer allow!
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What opportunities are before you today?
Have you responded to them?