It has become a tradition around our house to watch It’s A Wonderful Life during the holiday season, and last night, my wife and I finally got around to viewing it. For those of you unfamiliar with this movie, George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, has the prospect of getting in on the ground floor of a business opportunity with his childhood friend, Sam Wainwright, whose father’s company is going to start producing plastics. Sam wants George to buy stock in the company, knowing that this is a product that is really going to take off in the near future. George declines the offer, and as it turns out, Sam was right. He ended up making a fortune manufacturing plastic hoods for airplanes for the war effort during World War II, and George lost out. Opportunity had knocked for George Bailey, but he had turned it down, as his friend reminded him years later.
There are many times in our own lives that we have opportunities presented to us, and sometimes we do not recognize them as such, or if we do, our human nature tends to make us afraid to take the plunge. I am sure each and every one of us can remember a time or two that we found ourselves in a similar situation as George Bailey found himself in with his plastics opportunity, and just as George did, we, too, for whatever reason, did not open up the door to that opportunity.
In the Bible we have the stories of two men, each of which were given great opportunities to be with the Lord, and each of them took a different route. One of these was a despised, disrespected little man, and the other was a young, rich ruler that the Lord knew had been a good person all of his life. But when push came to shove, it was the despised and disrespected little man, a chief tax collector, nonetheless, named Zacchaeus, who came to the call of Jesus when that opportunity arose, while the good, rich, respected young ruler walked away sadly as he rejected his Lord’s call. Thanks to the wonderful, unfathomable love and grace of God, each and every one of us is given the same opportunity as these two men were given. Will we answer that call, as Zacchaeus did, or will we reject it, and walk away, as did the rich, young ruler? Jesus Christ said in John 10:19, “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” (John 10:9) He stands at the door and knocks, but will we let Him enter in? The choice is up to each and every one of us, because no one can make that decision for you. Even right this very moment opportunity knocks. As we are told in Revelation 22:17, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And he that hears, let him say, ‘Come.’ And he that is athirst, let him come: he that will, let him take the water of life freely.” That water of life is Jesus Christ, the same Rock that watered the children of Israel in the wilderness, that same Bread, that same manna from Heaven, which fed them. And Jesus has told us in John 4:14, “whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.” Do not let this opportunity that is knocking pass you by!
There are many times in our own lives that we have opportunities presented to us, and sometimes we do not recognize them as such, or if we do, our human nature tends to make us afraid to take the plunge. I am sure each and every one of us can remember a time or two that we found ourselves in a similar situation as George Bailey found himself in with his plastics opportunity, and just as George did, we, too, for whatever reason, did not open up the door to that opportunity.
In the Bible we have the stories of two men, each of which were given great opportunities to be with the Lord, and each of them took a different route. One of these was a despised, disrespected little man, and the other was a young, rich ruler that the Lord knew had been a good person all of his life. But when push came to shove, it was the despised and disrespected little man, a chief tax collector, nonetheless, named Zacchaeus, who came to the call of Jesus when that opportunity arose, while the good, rich, respected young ruler walked away sadly as he rejected his Lord’s call. Thanks to the wonderful, unfathomable love and grace of God, each and every one of us is given the same opportunity as these two men were given. Will we answer that call, as Zacchaeus did, or will we reject it, and walk away, as did the rich, young ruler? Jesus Christ said in John 10:19, “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” (John 10:9) He stands at the door and knocks, but will we let Him enter in? The choice is up to each and every one of us, because no one can make that decision for you. Even right this very moment opportunity knocks. As we are told in Revelation 22:17, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And he that hears, let him say, ‘Come.’ And he that is athirst, let him come: he that will, let him take the water of life freely.” That water of life is Jesus Christ, the same Rock that watered the children of Israel in the wilderness, that same Bread, that same manna from Heaven, which fed them. And Jesus has told us in John 4:14, “whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.” Do not let this opportunity that is knocking pass you by!
2 comments:
Good article. Makes me think also of what the Bible says about making the most of the time.
Have a great day.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
Thanks, Tim!
In Him,
David R. Ferguson
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