Tozer in the Morning – Making the Most of Opportunities
God has also given us a wealth of opportunities. An opportunity may be defined as a providential circumstance which permits us to turn our time, our money and our talents to account. Of all gifts this is the most common, and it is the one which makes the other gifts of value to us and to mankind. The wise Christian will watch for opportunities to do good, to speak the life-bringing word to sinners, to pray the rescuing prayer of intercession.
The foe of opportunity is preoccupation. Just when God sends along a chance to turn a great victory for mankind, some of us are too busy puttering around to notice it. Or we notice it when it is too late. The old Greeks said that opportunity had a forelock but was close-shaven behind; if a man missed grabbing for her as she approached, he would reach for her in vain after she had passed.
Possibly the worst effect of waste is the mental habit it creates. To allow time or money or talents to go to waste is to do something harmful to ourselves. It is to injure ourselves inside where it is most serious.
Tozer in the Evening – UNWILLING TO YIELD
I know there are people who hear me preach regularly who will never consider changing their way of living They will go ‘underground’ before they will do that! Our situation is not an isolated case. There are millions of men and women with an understanding of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, who are still not willing to receive and commit themselves to Him whom the very angels and stars and rivers receive. They hesitate and they delay because they know God is asking the abdication of their own selfish little kingdom and interests. This is the tragedy of mankind, my brethren! We have rejected Him from our lives because we must have our own way. But until Jesus Christ is sincerely received, there can be no knowledge of salvation, nor any understanding of the things of God. The little, selfish, sinful man rejects the Son of God. While he is still enumerating the things he deserves, the Son of God stands outside. My brethren, I repeat: this is the great tragedy of mankind!