When Opportunity Knocks
November 14, 2008
A few Sundays ago, my husband’s church computer started smoking.
That’s not a good thing.
A lady in our church knew of a computer repair guy in town. In fact, only the week before this same repair guy, a man who is not a Christian, had fixed the church office’s hard drive for free. So Steve called him and told him he had another computer that needed work.
Turned out the power supply needed to be replaced. Steve told the man that we didn’t expect another free repair and that we’d pay for his work.
But the man had a better idea. He was the head of the local rotary club and needed a speaker for November’s meeting. Would my husband be willing to come and talk about our church?
Talk about God as payment for repair services?
Um, no problem.
So this week Steve went to the rotary club, got a free lunch, and at the end stood up in front of local business men and women and gave a clear, blunt plan of salvation.
He told them our church held to a literal view of the Bible and that the Bible says we are all sinners, that Jesus is the only way to heaven, regardless of how unpopular that is today. He kept his talk short, but he gave the complete truth in a loving yet uncompromising way. I joked with Steve later that those people hadn’t expected to go to church that Tuesday.
Strange, isn’t it? How do you explain a non-Christian asking Steve to do him this favor and making it clear he wanted Steve to talk about our church? God was in it — God sent that opportunity. We Christians often excuse our lack of witnessing by saying we don’t get chances, but when we do, we often cop out or sugarcoat the Bible. Even my husband said that as he was eating, waiting for his turn to speak, he felt the temptation to gloss over salvation, to maybe skip talking about the gospel altogether. But he knew he couldn’t.
Neither can we.
When opportunity knocks, I want to be bold enough to tell the complete truth without downplaying any aspect of man’s sinfulness or God’s perfection. I want to be bold enough to say that there is no other way but Jesus. I want to be bold enough to be deserving of the opportunities God hands out. I want opportunity to knock, and I want to meet it in a way that makes God smile.
Comments
6 Responses to “When Opportunity Knocks”
How amazing is our God? And you must be proud of your husband for doing the thing he knew to be right. Who knows what fruit his obedience might reap?
Agreed on everything, Erica. Steve said some people looked bored, but some looked interested. All we’re responsible for, though, is our obedience.
Amen, Sally.
You’re so right, Sally! How many times do we routinely pray for opportunities, but do we really want them? One former pastor told a great story about praying for God to bring new people into his life to witness to. Later that day, he was stopped at a red light and someone approached his vehicle with some kind of cult literature and he shooed the man away. As he was driving off, a little voice said in his head, “There was that opportunity you were praying for!”
Sally,
What a great story! I’m so glad Steve stuck to the gospel truth and didn’t water down his message! Of course, I wouldn’t expect anything less from him!
Praise God for Godly men who give us examples to live by!
I’ve heard of patches for computers … maybe it would have stopped smoking if you put a “patch” on it?
Thanks for your congratulations regarding my selling-first-novel post. I’m sorry it’s taken so long to get back to you. We started cover design and a general edit right away. Whew!
Merry Christmas!