Eventually the door will close!

Psalm 119:60 NLT - "I will hurry, without delay, to obey your commands."

Earlier in the week I was getting breakfast on my way to work and felt a prompting from the Lord to do something. I had only seconds to obey in the moment of opportunity. I did. The Lord blessed the moment.

As Christians, most of us can relate to these times. But I want you for a second to picture opportunities like you would a door. Sometimes the door is wide open. Sometimes its closed. But most of the time it's somewhere in between.

Here's the thing... opportunities like doors eventually close. You have to seize the moment as they say. You have to be prepared to move.

We have biblical examples of moments of opportunity. These are stories that would probably not have made the cut had the people involved not been obedient in the moment... or in our context... walked through the door God had just opened.

These are people like the blind man of Luke 18:35-43 (most likely the same account found in Mark 10:46-52 where we have his name; Bartimaeus). In this moment Jesus was passing by, and this blind man saw a door. That door was a moment. And that moment was the thought of being healed from his blindness. We don't really know how long he had been blind, or how long he had begged on the side of the road until that moment. He shouted out to Jesus. Those around him, told him to shut up. He shouted all the more. Jesus heard him. Jesus came to him. Jesus healed him of his blindness. And this blind man began to follow Jesus along the road.

A second example we find in three of the four Gospels (Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, and Luke 8:43-48). It is a woman (unfortunately, we don't know her name) who is said to have had and issue of blood. This issue had lasted for twelve years. The doctors could not help her. We are told that she had heard about Jesus and came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment. Immediately the account tells us that she was healed. Jesus turned to her. All three accounts record that He told her that her faith had made her well. We could say, she seized her moment. She walked through the door that was open to her.

A third account calls us to nearing of the end of Jesus earthly ministry. He was on the cross by two thieves. As these thieves are facing Roman crucifixion as well, one of them looks to Jesus and asks Him to "remember me when you come into your kingdom" (Luke 23:42) "Jesus answered him, 'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise" (v. 43). This man is in heaven because he saw a door or an opportunity God put before him to be saved.

So keep in mind the importance of being obedient in these moments...

A trip down my memory lane...

Lately I have been thinking about encounters I have had with people that little did I know would turn out to be the last time I saw them. Thankfully, with each situation I have faith and assurance that I will one day see each person again in Heaven. But their memory has made me think about how important it is to give people our time, our kindness, and sometimes more chances. But most importantly to be obedient to the Lord in the moment.

We never know how God can be working to bring people into our lives and in those moments we shut a door (or an opportunity) that God wanted to open in our lives for the first time or provide an additional opportunity that perhaps we missed before. Here are the four personal stories I am reminded of...

One was from a job I worked years ago...

It was a young guy of probably early to mid-twenties. He worked in the building behind the store I was working at. He was what most of us would call a comedian in the bunch. He was always in a happy and joking mood it would seem. One Friday afternoon as I was working at the cash register, he came through and began to briefly chat with me. He shared with me that he was going to party with his friends over the weekend. Now before I share what I immediately felt in that moment from the Lord to tell him, let me share this point... this young guy came from a Christian home and was raised right as we would say down here in the south. But at this time in his life he was away from the Lord. At the moment he said those words, I will never forget such a deep unction I felt to say something to him. I shared with him the he knew that he did not need to be doing those things. He kind of shrugged it off and said something along the lines that it would all be ok. The following Monday, I learned that he had been in a car accident and passed away. Interestingly, praise the Lord in how He worked in this young man's life... he had actually been in two accidents that weekend (it was icy road conditions if my memory recalls correctly)... the first accident affected him to the point that he turned back to God. He called his parents and informed them that he had rededicated his life back to the Lord. Shortly after this, he was visiting one of the friends from the first accident and wrecked the vehicle he was in and tragically passed away. I still remember talking to a Christian friend from church that worked with me at the store... after all these events happened... she told me as she was praying about the situation, the Lord told her that "He took him while He had him."

The second was an elderly man from my church...

This man and his wife who both have now been home in heaven quite a few years were pillars in our church. Early members that laid the foundation for what it is today. I will always remember him for doing prayer requests and Scripture reading before our pastor would come up on Sunday mornings to preach. I remember one Sunday as everyone was leaving after morning service where I felt so strong from the Lord to share with this dear brother what his short teachings of Scripture and the prayers he would lead on Sunday mornings meant to me. The brief conversation was so special and he was glad to hear it. Little did I know that he would shortly pass away following this encounter. It was one of the last encounters I had with him.

The third was a person I knew from another church...

This one is where things get harder to be reminded of. In this instance, I missed an opportunity that I can not get back in this life. I was in a rush checking out at a store and I knew if this person saw me that I would not be able to get away as quickly as I needed to. I moved around a shelf so they would not see me and checked out and left. Shortly after this, that person tragically passed in a car accident. I live with the fact that the person would have most likely enjoyed talking with me that day, but I avoided them. I would love to rewind to that moment and have a conversation I didn't have.

The fourth person was a family member...

For the most part, I always had a great relationship with this member of the family. But the last time I saw them was when I drove by their home and they were in their front yard and looked my way and I didn't acknowledge them. At the time, this person was making bad decisions in life and it was affecting their immediate family and quite honestly it was aggravating me. I was not happy with them at the time. Little did I know that interaction of driving by would be the last time I saw them. It would be shortly after this that they would tragically pass away.

Over time, I have realized that every connection God allows in our lives has significance...

These memories above (all special people that I knew and look forward to seeing in heaven again one day) are ones that I could probably tell a sketch artist the details and they could draw out these final scenes I had with them because each is so vivid in my memory. I know in heaven, things like this will be remembered no more, but in the here and now it reminds me of the importance of loving people past all their issues because we all have them.

My point is this...

Doors eventually close for the last time and when they do, its too late to do what could have been. What could have been experienced is no longer possible. Sure... we can repent and God is always faithful and merciful to forgive... but the memory will remain in this life that we missed our door while it was open.

The door is still open and opportunities abound in our lives...

I challenge you to simply ask the Lord what doors He has open for you at this moment.

I don't know what your doors are right now... It could be the opportunity to encourage someone in your life, the opportunity to give someone a second chance, or even make it personal (the opportunity to obey His call you have been running from).

All I can say is this... Don't run from the open doors God has for you... run through them while they are still open. Doors eventually close...