"Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity." (Colossians 4:5)
One day, I was praying to God for an opportunity to connect with a Muslim and start a new friendship. Earlier, I had walked past a few Arabic looking guys, but I simply said 'hello' and moved on. So I asked God to give me a 'second chance', another opportunity.
I parked my car in Westfield and walked towards the centre entrance. I noticed a man and his son loading things into their car. I was 80% sure that he was a Muslim from Saudi Arabia. I walked towards him, praying that somehow an opportunity would come up. I made eye contact with him and smiled. Then he looked at me and said, "Excuse me. Can you please help me? I have a bad back." Then I asked him, "Where are you from, brother?" To my excitement, he said, "Saudi Arabia"! So I shook his hand and exchanged a few Arabic greetings with him. He told me that he's currently studying a Masters degree at university. So I asked him, "Do you know my friend X? He's also an international student from Saudi Arabia. He's one of my English students." We eventually worked out that he was a mutual friend of ours! In the end, we exchanged phone numbers and I invited him to join us for coffee next time.
In Colossians, Paul calls believers to "make the most of every opportunity". I think he had at least two things in mind: (1) To live our lives in such a way that makes the gospel attractive to outsiders (see Colossians 3). This means living a holy life according to God's standard, a life that is different to the world's standard. (2) To speak up about our faith and to proclaim the gospel of Christ (see Colossians 4:1-6). This means being prepared to testify about why we follow Jesus.
Here are three steps we need to take, in order to make the most of every opportunity:
May God open many doors for us as we intentionally seek out opportunities to do good and speak grace.