Welcome to Friday Evening Devotional for May 15, 2009.

 

Choose Today

Tom Barnard

 

“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

(2 Corinthians 6:2)

 

“… choose today whom you will serve…but as for me and my family,

we will serve the Lord.”

(Joshua 24:15)

I like the old saying:

“Four things come not back:

The spoken word;

The spent arrow;

Time past;

The neglected opportunity.”

 

Opportunity may not knock more than once. In fact, for many of us opportunities are less common than termites in Alaska. A “neglected opportunity” implies that an opportunity came along, and a choice was  made to ignore it. The lesson here is that there are important things in life that cannot be taken back (a spoken word), recovered (a fallen arrow), repeated (time spent), or postponed (opportunities). Now means now, not when it is convenient. And the beautiful thing is that we have a choice that we may not have again. So, we can do what Joshua did—choose. Now.

 

Heavenly Father, I am so blessed to have been chosen by you. Of all the children born in Glendale, California, on an August day in 1931, you chose my parents to give birth to a son who would live for more than three-score-and-ten years and never once regret his childhood choice to follow Jesus Christ and live for him. And best of all, you let me choose. How great is that! My prayer today is that you will continue to lead me in the opportunities that I will face today, tomorrow, and in the future; and then at just the right time you will let me choose. I choose you now, and I will choose you then. Amen.