Lesson 22: Using the Right Opportunities
Read Galatians 5:1-26 - www.bible.com/bible/59/gal.5
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
We talked about distractions in our walk with Jesus in the last lesson. Today we talk about opportunities. Because we know God uses even the evil that comes into our lives for good, we need to be aware that many “distractions” may also be God’s opportunities for us to serve Him.
How can we tell whether something is a distraction or an opportunity? A great measuring guide is Matthew 6:33 – is the distraction something I want or something that seems to be more about someone else? If it is something I want or think I need, then I need to assume it is just a distraction because God has promised to supply all my needs – Philippians 4:19. If the distraction is about someone else – for example, someone is ill and asking for your help but you do not think you have the time to help – then this is probably an opportunity. God wants to use you to meet some need in their life.
Seeking God’s kingdom first with our life means we spend our life and our talents and abilities helping other people come to Jesus. A pastor said recently that we must not forget this earth is not our home. We must spend our time working for our real home – Heaven. We focus on Jesus, and we do everything we can to take as many people with us to Heaven as we possibly can. After all, the relationships with those whom we have brought with us are the greatest treasure we can store up in Heaven – Matthew 6:21.
Truly loving our neighbor means we want them to have the same eternal life in Heaven we want for ourselves. It means we forgive them as Jesus forgave us (Matthew 18). It means we tell them the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). It means we encourage them at every opportunity, with the same kinds of words we would want to hear spoken to us if we had done something wrong (Proverbs 27:5-6, and Ephesians 4:32).
And our last verse for today, walking by the Spirit, is the only way we can recognize every opportunity God sends to us. His Spirit’s leading will not only show us the person He wants us to help, but will also give us the right words to say (Luke 12:12).
*Think of a time when you saw a distraction become an opportunity to help someone. What happened?
Lesson 22: Using the Right Opportunities Print
Modified on: Fri, 16 Apr, 2021 at 1:56 PM
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