¹⁷And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, Those who are strong and well have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick; I came not to call the righteous ones to repentance, but sinners (the erring ones and all those not free from sin).                                                  Mark 2:17

Something I’ve been dwelling on lately is this:

This is the only opportunity I have to reach the people that are in my life right now. I’ll never get to reach them again. As I look back at my high school year book I realize, my time to influence and reach those people have past. College – past. Previous jobs – past. I’ll never get the influence I had in those seasons with those people back.

Implications?

College Students: You’ll never get to Room with your roommates again, or sit next to that kid in your chem class – this is your only chance to reach them.

Pastors - People are coming to our ministries every week and it might be the only chance they’re giving to God, they’re coming one time. It’s our only chance to reach them.

High School Students - Even though you think you will, you won’t be friends with very many people from high school once you graduate – this is your only chance to reach them!

Parents - You get a limited window in which you can reach your kids – it’s your only chance.

You – You meet and interact with a ton of people everyday that you’ll never talk to again. You only have one chance to lift their lives and point them to God.

What are you doing to reach the people in your life right now? Time is short, the clock is ticking, and this really is your only chance.

Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions -I John 3:18

The “Pay it Forward” principle comes from the movie, “Pay it Forward” If you haven’t seen this movie, you need to. The whole concept is this: Help three people in a really big way, do something for them that they can’t do for themselves. In return, ask them to “pay it forward” and do the same thing for three people in their lives.

Ask God to put three people on your heart, something to do to help each of them, and then do it.

Think about that. Have you ever done something for someone that they couldn’t pay you back for? It’s the most rewarding thing in life!

I would encourage you to put this principle into practice -> Ask God to put three people on your heart, something to do to help each of them, and then do it.

When they want to pay you -> just say, “No thanks, just know that God loves and cares about you very much. If you’d like to pay me back, do something for three people in your life that they can’t pay you back for!”

If we’ll put this into practice, and once we’re done with our three people, find three more, we really will change the world one person at a time.

Everyday I pray this prayer, and everyday it comes to pass:

God, I open up my heart to you today. I’ll do what you want me to do, say what you want me to say, go where you want me to go. Let the right people come across my path today so I can point them to you and lift them with your word and your love . . .

Smith Wigglesworth would not go to bed unless he had led someone to the Lord that day. That is awesome, and I’m not there yet, but I don’t want to go to bed until I have pointed someone to God. I don’t want to go to bed until I know I’ve been used by God to lift at least one life.

In his brilliant work, “Spiritual Leadership“, J. Oswald Sanders talks about interruptions he would receive during the day:

‘People would walk into my office and say: “Well, I just had two hours to kill here in between trains, and I thought I would come and see you.’ That used to bother me… Then the Lord convinced me that He sends people our way…So now I take interruptions as from the Lord. They belong in my schedule, because the schedule is God’s to arrange at His pleasure.”

Pray this prayer today – view every interaction you have today as an opportunity to point people to God. I promise you, if you’ll do this, you’ll have more opportunities than you can imagine to be a witness.