Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Matthew 6:10
Just after coming to know the Lord, I had a co-worker who received a diagnosis of cancer, with a very bleak outlook. About six weeks after his diagnosis, he called and said “Hey, can we have lunch? I want to talk to you about your faith?” I was so excited! He still seemed pretty healthy, not knocking on deaths door or anything, so I said “sure”. “I am packing for vacation right now, we leave tonight, but I am only gone for a week and the day I get back we can have lunch.”. My family was counting on me to have them all ready and to get us on our way, so I didn’t feel too bad pushing our lunch out until we got back.
I got us packed, and on the road on time, but there was just something nagging at me about not meeting with my co-worker. I ran scenarios through my head trying to figure out if there had been some way that I could have met with him and been ready in time, but there really wasn’t. So, we went on vacation, had a great time and were back, as promised, in one week.
I got back in time to attend his memorial service, but not to have lunch. I still tear up, even when I type that story out to you.
God had provided me with an opportunity to share the gospel with this man and I missed it. I put earthly things before God’s purpose and glorification. God had blessed me with an opportunity to be a part of this man’s eternal salvation story and instead I was part of my families vacation (I can’t even remember where we went that year). How sad is that? One of the things that bothers me the most, is that my family would have understood if I had said we have to leave a little later so that I can talk to a co-worker about the Lord. But I didn’t even give them the opportunity.
I am prayerful that God allowed someone else the blessing of leading this man to the Lord and that we will be in Heaven together for eternity, after all, that is God’s desire.
I am saddened however that when God said “will you do this for me?”, I said, “sure, but not right now.”
As long as I live, I will never stop mourning that missed opportunity. I don’t beat myself up about it because God forgave me, but I do pray that this was one of those hard lessons that keeps you from ever making that mistake again.
I do not know the state of this man’s heart when he died. I do know that he was seeking God and that God desired a relationship with him (We love Him because He first loved us, 1 John 4:9) and I do know that God is a God of second chances. (The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2 Peter 3:9). AND, I know that He forgives me, (If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1:9).
So, what happens in the world when we are given a really important job and we fail to do it…fail to even try? To quote our President…”You’re FIRED!” lol. We don’t get a second chance, typically, its over for us.
But that is not how God works. God is a God of Second Chances.
I failed Him mightily and since then He has provided me with opportunity after opportunity to share Him and I am so thankful to say that I am now a part of the eternal salvation story of a number of people, thank you Jesus!
For any number of reasons, we will all (at times) fail to heed the leading of the Holy Spirit and miss opportunities to evangelize and glorify God to people who don’t know Him. But, what are we going to do when we fail Him?
Are we going to be like Peter when he denied he knew Jesus (not once, but THREE times)? Once he realized that Jesus was right and that he had truly denied Him three times, he gave up evangelizing, gave up healing, gave up casting out demons and went back to simply being a fisherman. Then, while he is fishing, Jesus comes back and asks Peter (three times) if he loves Him. Peter says yes each time and Jesus asks him to feed His sheep. (John 21).
When Peter failed Jesus He stopped doing what Jesus asked and taught Him to do. But Jesus made sure he understood that he was being given a second chance and that He still wanted him to serve and glorify his Heavenly Father and Peter did!
So, when we fall short of what God is asking of us, what will we do? Will we fish or feed sheep?
I pray that if you are currently not serving God, because you feel you failed or let Him down, that you would audibly hear His voice calling you back in to service. It is His desire (For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10). I pray that we would realize how greatly God loves us, and those who don’t know Him, and I pray that we would begin to understand the beautiful, bountiful, blessing God offers us when He (through the Holy Spirit) asks us to be a part of another persons eternal salvation story. I pray that today might be the first day of your evangelistic service to God or the first day of your re-commitment to His call to make disciples. (Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20). He redeemed us from the consequences of our sin and gave us eternal life, shouldn’t we be willing to serve Him with this short earthly one?
If you do not know our Precious Savior as Lord of your life, I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver Page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) and pray the prayer that is outlined there. He desires to forgive you, love you (like you have never been loved) and give you an eternal salvation story, which I would love to be a part of. Once you have prayed that prayer, please reach out to me at admin@Forgiven-n-Loved.com and let me know so that I can be in prayer for you.
Luv Ya!
