The Sunday Mail
Pastor Tinashe Zinyemba The Christian Youth —
WE are only left with one Sunday before the year is over. I came across an interesting article on the Emerging Ideas blog, it made me think differently about my approach to the year end.
We usually want to finish the year with a bang. That is a good perspective and I encourage you to aim for that.
However, as we focus on the great end, thinking that we will rest afterwards, we tend to forget that as we finish the year, we are beginning the next one. With this thought in mind, do not just aim to finish the year on a high, also aim to start the year strong and on a high.
If you finish strong, well done; but do not rest on your laurels because by the time you crank yourself up, the year will have already begun then you will have to play catch up for the rest of the year.
Over the past weeks, we have looked at how to create opportunities. We also warned against unrighteous means of creating opportunities. I can guarantee you that quick gains can be won by losing your moral compass.
In Matthew 4 and in Luke 4, Satan tempts Jesus and actually offers Him riches unimaginable only if Jesus was to bow down to him. Basically, Satan was saying to Jesus for just two seconds on your knees, I will give you the best that money can buy.
Satan was offering fame, glory, pleasure, luxury and all you can name. Of course Jesus did not take the bait, but there are many who do.
Look at Esau who sold his birth right, Lot’s wife who turned into a pillar of salt, Delilah sold out Samson and she eventually died a horrible death. Judas Iscariot, Ananias and Saphira, Balaam and many more.
Some resort to witchcraft and charms to get ahead in life, others resort to lying, cheating and scheming. There are also those who give sex for a way to power.
Yes, this way you will get some level of glory or power or whatever it is that you think you deserve. However, the price you pay outweighs the self-gratification by far. Many have ruined their carriers because of that, others blacklisted for life.
Some will carry bad tags for life due to their earlier mistakes. Unfortunately, this is not easily reversible. Some have damaged their relationships with their loved ones to irreparable states, others have destroyed lives, all to gain a few dollars or some favours.
Do not open your doors of opportunities by taking the unrighteous routes. In Ecclesiastes 9:11, Solomon says, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”
One way or the other, an opportunity to improve yourself is coming towards you. You could be tall or short, dark or light, male or female, educated or uneducated, pretty or ugly, skilled or unskilled; there is an opportunity coming your way.
This is very encouraging. However, what are you going to do when that chance you have been waiting for finally comes? Are you ready for the door that is about to open before you?
You see, many young people actually have no plan for their future. They are just going with the flow and living each day as it comes. The other day, l heard someone saying that failing to plan is planning to fail.
If you begin to think about being a wife or a husband the day you get married, that is too late. If you begin to wonder what a good employee is like when you are on the job, then you are already too late. If you start to think about being a good boss when you have already started your company, you are going to have a hard time because that is way too late.
That man you have been praying for or that woman you want to marry are in the near future, begin to live now as the perfect spouse. That job is coming, university is close by, a scholarship will find its way towards you and promotion will locate you. Just be prepared for the opportunity.
We are all born with destiny hanging over our lives but we disqualify ourselves along the journey of life. Imagine if Mary the mother of Jesus had not kept herself pure before God, she would have never been the right candidate to carry the Son of God.
Imagine if Joseph had slept with Potiphar’s wife or Daniel and his friends had eaten the food offered to idols or bowed to the image of the king. What about Esther and Ruth as well as Elisha the prophet. They were all living their lives one day at a time, preparing for the future until one day, the door opened.
The actions that we make cause opportunities to come our way and vice versa. It is up to us to navigate through each day as doors open. Till next week. God bless. Tinashe Zinyemba is a pastor with New Life Covenant Church.
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