One night a
teenage girl brought her new boyfriend home to meet her parents, and they were
appalled by his appearance: leather jacket, motorcycle boots, tattoos, and a
pierced nose. Later, the parents pulled their daughter aside and confessed
their concern. “Dear,” said the mother diplomatically, “he doesn’t seem very
nice.” “Oh please, Mom,” replied the daughter, “if he wasn’t nice, why would he
be doing 500 hours of community service?”
Hulk Hogan, the
famous wrestling star, missed a call from his agent about a possible
endorsement deal. Now the story has shifted over the years, but basically, his
agent had set up some potential sponsorship on some kitchen items. These
companies felt a celebrity name on their product could rocket them to success.
Hulk favored a meatball maker, but the agent had another product in mind. So,
he rang up Hogan, but he never answered. The agent moved on to his next client
to see if he wanted to put his name on a personal grilling machine. That
client, ex-boxer George Forman, took the call and the offer. Over 100 million
George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machines have been sold
worldwide. It is estimated that Forman has made over 500 million dollars from
that deal, more than he made in his entire boxing career. I bet the Hulk wishes
he had answered his phone.
A merchant sat
at his desk, and all around him were letters, bills and other evidence that he
was much absorbed in the details of his business. A gospel preacher entered his
office and said, “I have come to you to try to interest you in a matter of
great importance. I would like to talk to you about the destiny of your soul,
and the gospel of Christ.”
“Sorry, not
now. You must excuse me preacher,” said the merchant. “I am very busy,” was his
reply. The preacher excused himself and with a sad and heavy heart, left. The
merchant turned again to his papers.
Just a few days
after this incident, a disagreeable stranger stepped into the merchant’s
office and laid a cold moist hand upon his brow and said, “Come home with me,”
and the merchant laid down his pen and closed his books and went home. He felt
dizzy, faint and sick. A cold chill settled on the merchant’s heart, specters
of ships, notes, ledgers, houses and lands flitted through his excited brain.
His pulse beat slower; his heart heaved, a thick film gathered over his eyes;
his tongue refused to speak, and death’s clammy dampness was on his brow. He
knew the name of the strange visitor was “Death.” He was too busy to attend to
spiritual matters and the salvation of his soul, but he wasn’t too busy to
die.
We don’t always
see an opportunity for what it is. What may change our life might be seen
initially as an annoyance or a hassle. We have different ideas about what is
best. Yet later we can see how an opportunity slipped away.
[James 4:
13-14] God warns, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such
and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit,’ whereas
you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a
vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.’”
Right now, you
have an opportunity to change your life for the better. You have access to ‘the
unsearchable riches of Christ’ (Ephesians 3:8). He wants to put his name on
YOU! (1 John 3:1-3). The Gospel call is ringing out to all of us (Romans
1:16-17; Acts 2:38-39). How are you going to respond? Ignore the call? Choose
something else that won’t be as valuable? Or do you take the offer that grants
far more than you ever hope to have in this life?
“…now is the
accepted time; …now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).
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