Your doorbell rings.
When you answer, there is a man standing outside with balloons and a gigantic check.
"CONGRATULATIONS!!! You are our contest winner!!!!!" this man exclaims.
"What?!" you shout.
"You have won $86,400 from our company. But not just this once. You will receive $86,400 every day for the rest of your life!"
You cannot contain your excitement. What LUCK!
"HOWEVER, there is one catch," the man explains. "You will receive this money each day at dawn. Yet when midnight strikes, if any of the money has not been spent, it will be entirely withdrawn for that day."
"So, I have to spend the entire $86,400 every day or it will be taken away?"
"That is correct," the man replied. "Good luck and congratulations!!"
What would you do? How would you spend your money each day? I can think of hundreds of things I could buy and donate to…..
Guess what else is significant about the number 86,400?
That’s how many seconds are in every day.
We have exactly 86,400 seconds every day with which to DO something. We have 1,440 minutes every day to SPEND wisely.
How are you going to spend today’s precious moments before they are gone in the blink of an eye?
Perhaps you can speak to someone about the love of Christ and the joyful, wonderful promises he gives us.
This past week in church we continued to study from the book of Colossians. We read Colossians chapter 2, verses 2-6.
I’d like to focus on verses 4 and 5:
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 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. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
How do I act towards non-believers?
Do my actions reflect Christlikeness?
Am I always ready to give an answer for the questions people ask me about my faith?
To be honest, when I have been asked about my faith, I have become quite frightened.
I have gotten scared of what that person might think, and I think too much about the judgements possibly being made about my decision to follow Christ.
In short, I do not think that I share the JOY of Christ when asked about Him. I take myself too seriously and forget the wonderful peace and happiness I feel because I am a child of God, with hope for an eternal future. And that should make me joyful.
JOY.
That is what I desire to show to others in my 86,400 seconds every day. I desire to answer the questions of others with grace, truth, and JOY. For joy is contagious.
I am a big fan of comedy. I love to laugh. Take a look at this video by Christian comedian Tim Hawkins. It’s truly one of my favorites.
This guy is really good at reminding us Christians not to take ourselves too seriously. And I’d like to be a little bit more like him.
Now, I’m not saying that we need to all become comedians in order to share Christ’s message - far from it - but perhaps we can admit that we often appear to take a staunch, pious, unwelcoming approach in sharing what we believe.
And perhaps that seriousness is a barrier that Satan uses to keep us from sharing His word with JOY.
Colossians 2:5 tells is to "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity."
Yes! Let us remember that every day we are forced out into a world full of sinners just like ourselves. Let us remember that those "outsiders"are folks who just haven’t received their Free Gift yet. Let us remember that we are no greater than our neighbor. We are an undeserving, simple people, sent to be messengers of His joy.
Be wise.
Spread truth.
Share HIS JOY.
Lord,
I truly desire to spend my precious moments wisely while I am here on this earth. You have put me here to bring glory to you, and my prayer is that I can bring others to you, that they too may share in your gift of everlasting life. Forgive me for my selfishness and lack of trust. Help me to share your story with wisdom, grace, humility, and a joy that only you can provide.
Humble your servant, Lord.
Amen.
[Authored by Julie Gernand]
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