Introduction. When our alarm clock goes off, we know a deadline has just passed. The time for sleep has come to an end and the time to use the day begins. Throughout each day, windows of opportunity open and close - an appointment or schedule creating a specific time where our abilities can be used to achieve something important. This is how an entire life unfolds and the blossoms of opportunity grow into the fruits of success. The wise portion out their days, weeks, and years, along with youth, middle, and old age, setting goals and making plans. Each of these periods offers a chance for improvement and success. If we make wise use of these opportunities, we feel great joy and contentment when we look back on that portion of our life. If we squander these windows, we feel regret and remorse as we consider “what might have been.”
Our first window of opportunity was the precious gift of youth. In our culture, youth is tied to school. Years are divided into quarters and semesters, and grades chart our progress and effort, giving continual feedback so we can change course. Elementary, middle and high school, along with college, all created amazing opportunities to learn and prepare ourselves for success. As the days and months passed, one year moved into the next, and inexorably like sand through the glass, it came to an end with graduation and a diploma. Once that deadline passed, this priceless window of opportunity closed. Many of us wistfully look back at these opportunities and realize we did not use them wisely. We could have done more, gained more, and become more, but now it is too late. Memories of successes fill us with joy, while the failures still make us wince and shake our head at our folly. Like a relay race, we may be able to make up for the loss of this time, but we can never go back and change it.
The purpose of today’s article is to help us translate our previous missed opportunities into the motivation to make better use of them today. Those who have regrets can learn a vital lesson and refuse to repeat those mistakes regarding any other period of their life. God has revealed that everything in our life is like that time of going to school in our youth. “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1). Just like school, these “seasons” and “times” for “purposes” open and close one after another with the same opportunities for success or failure.
Our first window of opportunity was the precious gift of youth. In our culture, youth is tied to school. Years are divided into quarters and semesters, and grades chart our progress and effort, giving continual feedback so we can change course. Elementary, middle and high school, along with college, all created amazing opportunities to learn and prepare ourselves for success. As the days and months passed, one year moved into the next, and inexorably like sand through the glass, it came to an end with graduation and a diploma. Once that deadline passed, this priceless window of opportunity closed. Many of us wistfully look back at these opportunities and realize we did not use them wisely. We could have done more, gained more, and become more, but now it is too late. Memories of successes fill us with joy, while the failures still make us wince and shake our head at our folly. Like a relay race, we may be able to make up for the loss of this time, but we can never go back and change it.
The purpose of today’s article is to help us translate our previous missed opportunities into the motivation to make better use of them today. Those who have regrets can learn a vital lesson and refuse to repeat those mistakes regarding any other period of their life. God has revealed that everything in our life is like that time of going to school in our youth. “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1). Just like school, these “seasons” and “times” for “purposes” open and close one after another with the same opportunities for success or failure.
There is a season to begin a career, a time to marry and to raise children, and a season to give our lives to the Lord. They all have a deadline and a time when they can either no longer be done, or no longer be done well. As we pass through them one after another, our joy or our regret grows. If we did not prepare and choose well for our career, we will come to regret it. Choosing a job that brings challenges we can enjoy and opportunities to work in a field that brings success is one of the most important decisions of our life. God has said, “Nothing is better for a man than that ... his soul should enjoy good in his labor,” it is “from the hand of God,” “every man... enjoy the good of all his labor – it is the gift of God.” “It is good and fitting for one ... to enjoy the good of all his labor ... for it is his heritage.” (Eccl 2:24, 3:13; 5:18). If we failed at school and failed in our job, the regret at the loss of this wonderful opportunity will grow and we will become very familiar with the disappointment and loss it has creates day after day.
The same thing is true with the spouse we chose and the efforts we put forth for a good marriage. A lifetime of regret and remorse awaits those who do not put forth these efforts at an opportune time. The earlier we start and the more diligence and effort we put into it, the greater the returns. God has revealed to us that this truly is the portion we will receive in this life. “Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days ... for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.” Following God’s instructions on building a good marriage (Eccl. 9:9; Eph. 5:22-33; 1Pet. 3:1-7) is one of the wisest investments we can make in our future.
The same thing is true with training and guiding our children. The door of opportunity opens at their birth and continually narrows with each year, until it too closes. God has made it very clear that “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him.” Wise parents buy up this window of opportunity to “Train up a child in the way he should go,” and have known the pleasure of seeing that “when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Prov 22:15; 22:6). The remorse and regret of missing this important window will also grow as the years pass. “A wise son makes a glad father, But a foolish son is the grief of his mother,” “a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.” “He who begets a scoffer does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy.” “A foolish son is a grief to his father, And bitterness to her who bore him.” “Whoever loves wisdom makes his father rejoice.” (Pr. 10:1; 29:15; 17:21; 17:25; 29:2).
As a night of sleep ends with an alarm, or our youth ends in graduation, our entire life is also set within these bounds. The time to marry and build our marriage, have children and to train them up in the way they should go, work for an employer to develop skill and create self-esteem and success, are all fixed and finite. Once they have passed, our joy will be fixed and contentment will continue to grow if we made wise decisions, or our grief and remorse will be bitter whenever we look back.
Yet these things, as important as they are, pale into insignificance when we compare them with life’s greatest decision. There is a time to “remember your Creator in the days of your youth.” No one can control the moment when they first hear the gospel. For some it is in youth and for others later in life. What we can control is what we have done with that opportunity. Those who obey the gospel the moment they hear it and spend their lives diligently remembering and devotedly following all of God’s instructions can look back with joy at the fruits that have been developed to go with us into eternity. God wants us to succeed, and has given all his commands and instructions to bring us a lifetime of success and wonderful memories. “And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always.” (Deut. 6:24).
As our life draws to its close and the “the dark days come,” when we say we “have no pleasure in them,” God is giving us one final opportunity. All other regrets are now working with our realization that this life is drawing to an end. As we add up all the regrets in our lives and the feelings they create, we get a picture of what is to come. Imagine an eternity of regret and remorse over the missed window of opportunity that would have brought us into heaven. As long as we are alive, we have the window of opportunity to change this outcome. But, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” After our death, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (Heb 9:27; 2Cor. 5:10).
Jeremiah lamented that the season for repentance had come and gone for the people of Judah. “The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved!” (Jer. 8:19). One has to wonder if Felix ever bought up the opportunity God gave him to hear the gospel from the apostle Paul. “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.” (Acts 24:25). These will lead to eternal regrets much more powerful than those we now carry. Six times in the book of Matthew Jesus warned: “There will be weeping (wailing) and gnashing of teeth.” Our seasons of spiritual growth and toil, like all others will come to an end.
Conclusion. The most important thing we can learn from our experiences in school is that, as children, what we thought would last forever, slowly came to an end. When it was time to move ahead to the next time and season, we found ourselves prepared or unprepared by the decisions we had made. God would like all of us to learn from that experience. As we pass through each time and season, it is God’s hope that we will learn a fundamental truth about life. This truth He longs for us to realize, take to heart, and get wisdom from:
The same thing is true with the spouse we chose and the efforts we put forth for a good marriage. A lifetime of regret and remorse awaits those who do not put forth these efforts at an opportune time. The earlier we start and the more diligence and effort we put into it, the greater the returns. God has revealed to us that this truly is the portion we will receive in this life. “Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days ... for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.” Following God’s instructions on building a good marriage (Eccl. 9:9; Eph. 5:22-33; 1Pet. 3:1-7) is one of the wisest investments we can make in our future.
The same thing is true with training and guiding our children. The door of opportunity opens at their birth and continually narrows with each year, until it too closes. God has made it very clear that “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him.” Wise parents buy up this window of opportunity to “Train up a child in the way he should go,” and have known the pleasure of seeing that “when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Prov 22:15; 22:6). The remorse and regret of missing this important window will also grow as the years pass. “A wise son makes a glad father, But a foolish son is the grief of his mother,” “a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.” “He who begets a scoffer does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy.” “A foolish son is a grief to his father, And bitterness to her who bore him.” “Whoever loves wisdom makes his father rejoice.” (Pr. 10:1; 29:15; 17:21; 17:25; 29:2).
As a night of sleep ends with an alarm, or our youth ends in graduation, our entire life is also set within these bounds. The time to marry and build our marriage, have children and to train them up in the way they should go, work for an employer to develop skill and create self-esteem and success, are all fixed and finite. Once they have passed, our joy will be fixed and contentment will continue to grow if we made wise decisions, or our grief and remorse will be bitter whenever we look back.
Yet these things, as important as they are, pale into insignificance when we compare them with life’s greatest decision. There is a time to “remember your Creator in the days of your youth.” No one can control the moment when they first hear the gospel. For some it is in youth and for others later in life. What we can control is what we have done with that opportunity. Those who obey the gospel the moment they hear it and spend their lives diligently remembering and devotedly following all of God’s instructions can look back with joy at the fruits that have been developed to go with us into eternity. God wants us to succeed, and has given all his commands and instructions to bring us a lifetime of success and wonderful memories. “And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always.” (Deut. 6:24).
As our life draws to its close and the “the dark days come,” when we say we “have no pleasure in them,” God is giving us one final opportunity. All other regrets are now working with our realization that this life is drawing to an end. As we add up all the regrets in our lives and the feelings they create, we get a picture of what is to come. Imagine an eternity of regret and remorse over the missed window of opportunity that would have brought us into heaven. As long as we are alive, we have the window of opportunity to change this outcome. But, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” After our death, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (Heb 9:27; 2Cor. 5:10).
Jeremiah lamented that the season for repentance had come and gone for the people of Judah. “The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved!” (Jer. 8:19). One has to wonder if Felix ever bought up the opportunity God gave him to hear the gospel from the apostle Paul. “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.” (Acts 24:25). These will lead to eternal regrets much more powerful than those we now carry. Six times in the book of Matthew Jesus warned: “There will be weeping (wailing) and gnashing of teeth.” Our seasons of spiritual growth and toil, like all others will come to an end.
Conclusion. The most important thing we can learn from our experiences in school is that, as children, what we thought would last forever, slowly came to an end. When it was time to move ahead to the next time and season, we found ourselves prepared or unprepared by the decisions we had made. God would like all of us to learn from that experience. As we pass through each time and season, it is God’s hope that we will learn a fundamental truth about life. This truth He longs for us to realize, take to heart, and get wisdom from:
- “The days of our years are seventy years and ten, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; for it is soon gone, and we fly away. . . 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom. (Ps 90:10, 12). “It is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” (Rom. 13:11-12)