“Every opportunity has a shelf life. Will you seize yours before it expires?”
As a culture we understand expiration. We throw out billions of pounds of food because of an expiration date. Medicine is disregarded one day past its expiration, even at the cost of people laying sick. Some people even believe they expire. Excuses of being too old or too outdated hold people back from taking risks and seeking new opportunities or adventures.
When I think about obedience, I think about “Shelf Life.” We get Windows. Moments. Opportunities. Not years or reoccurring events. Our response in these special moments determines the level of participation we get in Kingdom advancement. We must steward our moments of opportunities to obey. Opportunities to step from the natural into something supernatural. Something bigger than ourselves. Something GOD-size…
The “Shelf Life” of Obedience has an expiration date as well. When we delay, defer, or avoid, we miss Divine Kingdom moments. When we hide or fight the voice and purpose of God, we miss the breakthrough. When we resist the manifest presence of God in areas of our life the opportunities to experience and grow expire.
I think back to the children of Israel. They missed the season to move and found themselves wondering 40 years in the wilderness.
Pharaoh’s resistance to the Word of the Lord, caused his heart to become hardened. Eventually Pharaoh’s refusal to obey, led to his and his people’s destruction.
The Rich Young Ruler, when Jesus (God in human form) asks him to sell it all and to follow Him, his decision to walk away from Jesus’ invitation for greater wealth than money could give in a Kingdom not of this world, left him sad. The opportunity was in front of him, but when he didn’t yield to the voice of God, he missed his chance. We don’t know the whole story. What we do know – is in His moment face to face with God – He walked away sad. Expired obedience always leaves us walking away sad and empty.
Judas, one of the Disciples, chosen by God, was put in charge of the Lord’s treasury. Now, when God in flesh, puts a thief in charge of His treasury, we must believe that God didn’t set him up to fail, but God knowing what was in Judas’s heart, gave him an opportunity to overcome what was hidden in his heart. Judas chose not to. He chose to resist his divine inspired moments to obey and gave himself over to more deceit. He heard every teaching. He saw every miracle. But it wasn’t enough. When we give ourselves to our way, over Christ’s way, we miss divine grace to overcome. Expired obedience left Judas in such turmoil that he gave back the bag of coins and literally killed himself. His betrayal is a picture of what expired obedience produces, grief, loss and death. Maybe not physical death, but spiritual death.
Friends don’t live trying to make up expired obedience by always trying to catch up from the last thing you missed. God wants fresh, instant obedience. He wants obedience that is growing and developing you and your character.
God gives us, what the Greek calls “Kiros moments.” Moments with a “Shelf Life.” Moments we never get back. Divine encounters where the agenda of Heaven syncs with the obedience of man and Heaven is manifested on earth.
These moments have marked history.
They have marked Nations.
They have marked lives.
Where, what was, is flipped and the extraordinary happens. The lost get saved. The blind see. The captive gets deliverance. The weeping, rejoice. The broken are made whole. The rod of injustice breaks, and redemption is seen on earth as it was always intended from Heaven.
We see this example in Esther:
“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
Your disobedience not only affects you. It affects others. Sometimes it affects your family, but it also affects your city, your nation, and other nations. It always affects the Kingdom of God. The growth of the Kingdom, the expansion of the Kingdom, and the beauty of His Kingdom manifest in His church. It also has a direct effect on the return of Jesus.
On the same token, your obedience affects more than you, too! Esther’s obedience saved her family and nation. Her obedience also fulfilled prophesy and confirmed the Word of the Lord. Philip’s obedience in Acts 8:26-40 led to the conversion of an Ethiopian Eunuch, where we can literally trace the beginnings of the Ethiopian church in Africa. An entire nation was introduced to the gospel because of one man’s obedience.
Matthew 24:14 says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Our obedience directly affects the return of Jesus. If preaching the gospel to the whole world as a testimony to all nations, expedites the return of Jesus, then not preaching delays His return. The end will not come until the Gospel is preached.
God is patient. He has proven this in the past. He is willing to let an entire generation die in the wilderness, waiting for an obedient heart that is ready to fulfil His plan. He let the children of Israel sit in 430 years of slavery until they cried out and became willing to receive a Deliverer. God is patient, wishing none to perish. However, we must see our role in His plan for the none to perish.
Until we take personal responsibility for our obedience and disobedience in the Kingdom, we will never see cities or nations transformed. We will also not see the prodigals come home or the prayers for the lost answered.
However, when an entire people will assume responsibility for a city or nation that’s when we see Revival. God let it be so in my day, that we would recognize our personal responsibility to uphold your Word and refuse to let our moments of obedience expire.
Prayer:
Lord, give me in date, moment by moment, faithfulness, obedience, and attuned ears and eyes to honor movement in my life and YOUR ministry! Don’t let my opportunities expire while I am distracted by something that is not building Your Kingdom. Forgive me when I have ignored Your voice and allowed the fear of man or the trinkets of this world to hold more weight than Your desire. Gift me with a heartbeat of obedience. A yearning for Your presence in every area of my life. In Jesus Name, Amen.
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