Black Friday bargain fever

Get up crazy early. Stand in a long line. Spend hours in bone-chilling cold. Try to avoid being trampled by a stampeding crowd. Racing to order online before they’re sold out. That sounds like a lot of fun, doesn't it?
What a way to spend the day after Thanksgiving! Or any day for that matter. Guess what? More people than we can count — that's what they're doing today. The news will be filled with countless stories of Americans doing just that — trying to scoop up the "door-busting" bargains offered in the wee hours of this "Black Friday." For some people it may be more like a black and blue Friday.
Now, Black Friday veterans have told me it's not just a crunch, it's a rush. It's all about recognizing these short-lived opportunities and aggressively going after them before they're gone.
You know that rush! Where we recognize short-lived opportunities, and go after them before they're gone. Why, that should be what it's like to tell people the Good News about Jesus. He can erase your sins, He'll love you without strings, and He can guarantee you are going to heaven. It's all about recognizing the opportunities we each regularly have to bring up Jesus, and realizing that those windows of opportunity won't last long. And yes, going after those opportunities intentionally.
That's part of the Bible's description of how to live smart. In Ephesians 5:15 it says, "Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise ..." That's living smart. Here's living wise: "... making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Another translation talks about "buying up the time." Just like those Black Friday shoppers, going after it with this passionate sense of urgency. It's not going to be there long. Grab it while you can.
When the bargains are gone, you lose a little money. When the Jesus-sharing opportunities are gone, it can cost the eternity of someone you care about. Because in the words of the Bible, "He that has the Son (Jesus, the Son of God) has life; he that does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12). If you've got Jesus, you've got life forever in heaven. It's up to you to share that life with those around you who don't have Him and don't have that life.
So what creates a natural opportunity to talk about your relationship with Jesus? It might be something that's happening in your life, something happening in their life, or something going on in the world. Anything that legitimately provides a natural opportunity for you to reference some difference that having Jesus has made for you.
More than anything, I think what opens natural opportunities to talk about Jesus is praying for them. You can't be around me too long without learning about the three-open prayer based on Colossians 4:3-4. Here's what Paul says, "Pray for us, that God will open a door for our message." And then he says, "Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should."
Pray — "Lord, open a door." That's a natural opportunity to bring up Jesus. And then, "Lord, open their heart." "Lord, get them ready. Please get me ready to talk to them, and get them ready to hear about Jesus.” And then, "Lord, open my mouth." Give me the words, the courage, and the approach to use.
If you start to pray that three-open prayer, God's going to answer it. You don't have to say, "Lord, if it is Your will." It is. He wants to open a door, open their heart, open your mouth. When you start praying that, and ask God for open doors, then you open your eyes to look for them. They'll be there, all over the place, because God really wants you to tell the people you know about what His Son did for them.
It's exciting to live the adventure of discovering life-giving, life-saving opportunities. And it's costly to miss those opportunities – really costly.
©Ronald P. Hutchcraft 2022