Sunday
School Lessons
Commentary by Walter Albritton
June 1
Embracing Opportunities for Ministry that God Provides
Ezra 1
Key Verse: Any of those among you who
are of his people – may their God be with them! – are now permitted to go up to
--Ezra 1:3
A half century after
the Babylonian captivity of the Jews began, the Persian King Cyrus conquered
the Babylonians and opened the way for the Jews to return home. Though he was
not a worshiper of God, Cyrus offered goodwill to all the people under his
rule. He even assisted the Jews by returning sacred
The Jews saw the
kindness of the King as the handiwork of God. They believed the Lord had
“stirred up” King Cyrus, thus demonstrating God’s power to use even pagans to
accomplish his will.
For the Jews, this was
a God-given opportunity to rebuild the house of the Lord and enjoy their new freedom
to worship in the holy city of
The word opportunity
comes from two words which mean “at the gate,” which suggests why we use the
phrase “opportunity knocking.” A chance to do something is knocking at the gate
of our lives!
Opportunities come to
each of us. As Christians, we choose to believe that God offers us
opportunities to serve him. Even so, we need the wisdom and discernment to
understand which “openings” for service God has provided for us. Some, of
course, may have nothing to do with the will of God.
“Get rich quick”
schemes may at first glance appear to be excellent opportunities to make money.
Most of them, however, turn out to be swindles that rob innocent people of
money they can ill afford to lose. Scam artists are opportunistic people!
God-given
opportunities can arise out of tragedy and disappointment. A good example is
what happened when a little boy called “TJ” drowned after falling through the
ice on a creek near his home.
His parents realized
the need for a ministry to offer support to parents who had lost a child. They
used the boy’s initials, TJ, and named the ministry “Through Jesus.” To date several
hundred grieving families have received comfort from a work begun in memory of
“TJ.” Tragedy became an opportunity to serve others.
God gives us
opportunities by making us aware of the needs of others. We may hear of a
family whose home burned, and we are moved to share clothes, food, or furniture
with that family.
An invitation to teach
a Sunday school class may be an opportunity both to serve others and to learn
more about the Holy Scriptures. God’s opportunities for us will usually allow
us to be blessed as well as to be a blessing to others.
Here are some
questions that can help us determine if our opportunities are God-given:
1. Is it an opportunity to offer Christlike service to
others? We know that he has called us to servanthood, not to self-serving
endeavors.
2. Does it give us a chance to honor Christ with our
resources or gifts? Our goal should be to point people to Jesus, not to gain
glory for ourselves.
3. Is it something we can imagine Jesus doing? The
Bible teaches us that Jesus is our example.
4. Is it something we can accomplish only with the help
of the Lord? He expects us to work in concert with him, dependent upon his
grace!
5. Does it give us a chance to encourage others or to
build up the Body of Christ? God calls us all to the ministry of encouragement.
6. Is it something that, with the help of God, we can do
that will benefit others? This is the key to genuine missionary service.
7. Can we feel comfortable asking God to provide the
resources to enable us to embrace this opportunity to serve others? We know
that money follows mission and that where God guides, he provides.
Let
us pray for grace not to miss the opportunities that God gives us – to serve
him in ministry to people in need! May we have eyes to see clearly, and faith
to respond quickly, when God himself is at the gate! + + + +