Lost Opportunities by O. E. McCORD

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Oct 28, 1875

Lost Opportunities.

By O. E. McCORD

To earnest and wide-awake Christians there are many avenues of good, and the means and opportunity of doing it, are treasured as of the greatest importance to themselves as well as others. Their consciences are never at rest if they have the evidence of neglected duty to menace their present or future happiness. They appreciate the value of a word in season, or an offered tract to finish what the conversation has begun.

Lost, lost! I will, I fear, be the record of many whose names might have been written in letters of living light, had they been careful to improve the precious, and perhaps never recurring opportunities presented to them, of directing the minds of those with whom they are in daily converse to the blessed hope that illumines their own pathway, but may, if duty be carelessly neglected, be withdrawn from them. This subject is one of fearful import to those who profess to set the world an example of right.

Not long since I witnessed a scene that pathetically illustrated this subject, and might furnish food for reflection to humble inquirers after duty.

A little child between two and three years of age, whose father, toward whom she was extremely affectionate, was about to start on a journey. She wished to accompany him, but being told that it was impossible, became silent and morose.

When the moment came that he must leave her, he wished her to bid him good bye and kiss him. She sullenly refused, so he was compelled to leave her in that mood; but when she became fully aware that he was gone, she aroused and began calling, “papa, come back, I want to kiss you; papa, come back and I will kiss you,” while her grief seemed almost overwhelming. This continued until the repentant little one had become thoroughly exhausted, when the deep long drawn sighs attested the profoundness of her grief.

My tenderest sympathies were aroused, as I beheld the depth of this exhibition of genuine anguish occasioned by a willful omission of duty. Ah! thought I, what a lesson does this convey to us, who are after all only children of larger growth, quite as incapable as this little child, to act with perfect wisdom and unerring discretion in matters that pertain to our eternal welfare, without the aid and direction of the Holy Spirit.

Can we, who profess to love the Lord Jesus, hope to meet his approval if we carelessly allow opportunity after opportunity to pass, wherein we may warn those who may listen to his call, that they may prepare for the momentous event just before us? If we, like that little child, carelessly or willfully neglect continually recurring opportunities, preferring to yield to our own feelings instead of conscious duty, is there not danger of our repenting when it is too late to be heard, when the friends of our Lord are gathered in and the door to us is shut? The partisans of the world, those who love the present life more than that which is to come; those who are too busy gathering the riches of this world to make any effort to ensure treasures for the next; those who, for the pleasures which endure but for a moment, are willing to risk those pleasures that are eternal and unfading; those who willfully prefer the light of this world, which

is as darkness when compared with the weight of glory promised to those who are willing to trust Him who has promised and will perform: all these are ever active in inducing their friends to follow the allurements of sin, which, regardless of expense, is made as attractive as possible, so that none who venture within their influence, may by any possibility fail to be ensnared by its false brilliancy.

Shall we not, then, since time is precious, redouble our diligence, working with energy and zeal in the cause of the Lord who has bought us with his precious blood, thereby securing the attention of some of those who are now careless or ignorant of that which is for their eternal welfare? or shall we, indifferent to our Master's admonition, seek our own ease and selfish interests, thus losing the hope of the future life for ourselves, and seeing those lost whom we might, in the hands of God, have been the instruments of saving?

The Saviour taught his disciples that faith and works go together, and gives that as a token of true discipleship. He says: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” John 15: 8. Solomon says, “Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth,” Prov. 27: 1; and James affirms of this life that, “It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” Jas. 3: 14. Every incident connected with our surroundings conclusively confirms this testimony. And should we not arouse to a full realization of our duty to carefully improve our time, that we may not at last be left to unavailing repentance because of neglected opportunities?

O. E. McCORD.