Are you living the dream? You know, the dream you had about the way things would be. If so, you know how great that feels…until it doesn’t. One day, you began to notice that feeling of elation wasn’t there anymore. Now, it feels like something is missing. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but something is not as it should be. It is a nagging sense that something is amiss, perhaps an undetermined hunger for something unfound or lost along the way.
So, your pastor reminds you that you have so much to be thankful for. Your friends suggest taking up a hobby. Your therapist offers some antidepressants. Your spouse may suggest you just grow up. Truth is, you began to think that all those well-meaning folks had no idea of how you were really feeling, and you didn’t have the words to explain it.
The symptoms are real enough. You may feel exhausted and overwhelmed no matter how much you rest. Your closest relationships seem to drain you of energy rather than recharge you. Even your relationship with God is not as fresh and vibrant as it should be. It’s almost like you are living out of alignment with who you really are, and you are not sure what happened, nor are you quite sure how to fix it.
Perhaps the reasons are physical. It could be you are dealing with the side effects of your medications. However, please do not discount the possibility that it could be because of a foolish decision you made somewhere along the way. I call them “soft choices.” These are the choices you made with little prayer, little consideration of others, and little real thought of the consequences.
For the Christian, life is an intricate weave of fleeting opportunities. Every day of your life you come up against occasions to glorify the Lord through your decisions and actions. Some opportunities are vast and obvious, others small and unassuming. Yet, all too often, we let these opportunities to avoid a foolish decision or to make a godly decision slip through our fingers, either because we are too afraid to seize them or simply because we don’t recognize them for what they are. In this article, I would like to focus primarily on missed opportunities to do good.
Unfortunately, these missed opportunities can sometimes be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. They will not come back again. Tomorrow will be too late. So one day, we look back, wishing we had taken that challenge, made that bold decision, or tried something new. Often, the real meaning of life is not found in the things we do but in the things we dare to do.
God-given opportunities are often God’s way of prompting us to grow. They are heavenly invitations challenging us to step outside our comfort zones and embrace the unknown. Yet, for many, laziness, a fear of failure, or lack of commitment hold them back, chaining them down to a life of regret and mediocrity.
My challenge for each of us is to be alert to God’s voice. I know a thousand things are clamoring for your attention, but I assure you, God is still speaking to His children. He is still giving direction, imparting wisdom, and clarifying ways that you might glorify Christ while bringing fulfillment to your own life. I know you sometimes think God is giving you the silent treatment, but usually, the problem is that we are not alert to hear His voice.
The Bible mentions a man named Habakkuk. Although we don’t know much about him, we are told about an occasion when he inquired of God and then stood alert, waiting for a reply.
“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” Habakkuk 2:1
Habakkuk fully expected God to respond, so he stood waiting, watching, and listening for the Lord’s answer. Apparently, he also accepted the fact that he may not like the answer, but he still wanted to hear it.
John 10:27 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” God is always speaking to us, but we are often too busy to hear His voice. How can that be so when so much of our success in life depends upon having ears always in tune with His voice?
The Bible provides several examples of people who missed opportunities. Remember all the people who perished during Noah’s time? They laughed and mocked his warnings, so they missed a chance to escape the flood.
On the hill of Golgotha, crucified with Jesus, were two thieves. Both stood at a crossroads. One took the opportunity to receive Christ, while the other chose to go the other way and refused salvation.
When we read the parable of the Good Samaritan, we see how the priest and the Levite each missed an opportunity, while the Samaritan, the most unlikely of the three, seized it.
Perhaps, just as with the priest and the Levite, part of the problem may be that opportunities from God often come disguised as difficulties, inconveniences, or risks. It certainly would have been an inconvenience and perhaps even a risk to stop on your journey to help a stranger.
And so it is with all of us. We must learn to shift our mindset and view life’s challenges not as roadblocks but as detours to something greater. When we miss an opportunity, we are not just missing out on a moment—we are missing out on a potential transformation for our lives. Every day is a new chance, a new opportunity to become who we are truly meant to be.
Great men and women of accomplishment understood this very well. They knew a certain amount of difficulty was involved with every opportunity. Thomas Edison failed over and over again in pursuit of his inventions. A man once saw a barrel of discarded light bulbs in Edison’s shop. When asked what they were, Edison told him those were experiments that didn’t work. The man offered sympathy to the great inventor for his repeated failures. Edison replied, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 1,000 ways that won’t work.” Edison was undoubtedly intelligent, but his success could also be attributed to his perseverance, his ability to see failure as an opportunity to learn, and his willingness to take a risk.
Psalms 32:8: “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”
Did your mom and dad ever guide you with their eyes? One resource many parents don’t have today is “the look.” Without saying a word, “the look” told you in no uncertain terms that you better straighten up. Likewise, God has promised His guidance for His children, but there is a qualifier.
Psalm 25:9: “The meek (the humble) will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.”
Our Lord clearly reveals the type of people He chooses to lead. He leads the humble who have faith in Him and are willing to be led. However, He resists the proud who are determined to follow their own ways.
James 4:6: “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
Psalm 18:25-27: “With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright; With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward. For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.”
The Bible makes it clear that God cannot guide you if you are determined to guide yourself.
So, here is the challenge. If your world seems cloudy and perhaps a bit empty, or if you feel that life is not as fulfilling as it should be, it could be that you took the wrong road somewhere along the line. There was a pathway that God had for you, but you chose the other way. Or, you went the right way for a while but then made a soft choice and turned back when things got tough. It has been said that as life draws to a close, more people regret what they didn’t do as opposed to regretting what they actually did.
One day, it may very well hit you: a tidal wave of regret for all the opportunities you didn’t seize when you had the chance, the dreams you didn’t pursue, and the responsibility you were unwilling to accept. You may regret the spiritual gifts you didn’t use, the testimonies you didn’t share, the ministries you didn’t support, the good work you put on hold, and the prayers you didn’t offer. A lifetime of missed opportunities serves as a sobering reminder to live life fully while we have the chance.
In the end, perhaps these are the things that define us. These are the things that might have the most significant impact on the world and shape our destiny. Maybe, as in the case of the Good Samaritan, someone is waiting for you – someone’s life may even hang in the balance – and all you have to do is say yes. Let us all rededicate ourselves to be in tune with the voice of God, even in the noise and chaos of life.
I have often noticed something in the hundreds of church services I have attended. There may be a dozen kids in the church nursery, but if a baby cries, that particular baby’s mother will often leave the service and rush to the nursery. Why did she respond? Because she was in tune with her baby’s cries. The same is true of the Lord. He is in tune to our cries just as we must be in tune with His voice. The more we hear the word of the Lord the more we will be able to hear the word of the Lord.
I want to see God at work, and I would like to know that I’m a part of it. Opportunities come our way daily to perform some deed or give a testimony that will glorify the Lord. Be alert for them! Who knows, but one of them could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to overcome your ho-hum life and become the person God created you to be. Often, it simply boils down to the choices you make.
Dr. Worthington has been in the ministry nearly fifty years and serves as President of Pathway Ministries and Christian Bible College.