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By: Pastor Nathan Berg

I’m sure you’ve heard it before, that infamous catchphrase that marketers like to use to instill excitement into their audiences, “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”  Never again, they try to convince us, will we have such an opportunity to buy this thing or experience that.  Sometimes, they are simply sending up a smoke screen.  That once-in-a-lifetime opportunity seems to be offered every year.  Yet, there are certain occasions that truly are once-in-a-lifetime.

One of those occasions for the Christian could be the opportunity to share the Gospel.  There may be a time that comes where we, as Christians, are presented with an open door to share the Gospel with someone we may never run across again; a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  The apostle Paul realized that this was the case.  He realized that the world we live in desperately needs to hear the good news about Jesus.  And so, he wrote to encourage the Colossian Christians to make the most of their opportunities.  He writes in Colossians 4:2-6, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

Paul desperately wanted God to open doors for him to share the Gospel.  And when God opened doors, Paul didn’t want to miss that window of opportunity to share the Gospel.  He certainly had enough excuses to keep him from his opportunities.  He was persecuted.  He’s currently in prison.  He’s had those proverbial doors slammed in his face before.  Yet, the mystery of Christ, the good news of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection were worth the cost.  It was worth all of that for one open door to share the Gospel.

We have been graciously blessed to hear the good news about Jesus!  And now, God has given us the command to share that good news.  And he’s opened the door for us to do so.  We have the chance to go into our own personal spheres of influence and share the good news about Jesus.  Let’s make the most of this opportunity!  Let’s walk through that open door and proclaim the mystery of Christ to the people who desperately need to hear it!  It may truly be the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that God is giving us today.  The door is open, the time is now; may God help us and guide us to make the most of this opportunity!