Carpe Diem, Seize the Day

 

Sunrise over Corfu

'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. But exhort one another everyday, as long as it is called today. We have come to share in Christ ' Hebrews 3:7,13 and 14

In the 1960s, there is a song written by Randy Sparks and sung so meaningfully by John Denver entitled Today. It speaks of making the best use of the opportunities sent our way, not procrastinate and waste the chance. Those lovely blossoms on any spring day will not last forever and the song encourages us to seize the day.

Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine

I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine

A million tomorrows shall all pass away

'Ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today

I can't be contented with yesterday's glory
I can't live on promises winter to spring
Today is my moment, now is my story
I'll laugh and I'll cry and I'll sing

While in the desert of Sinai, the Israelites cowardly took a decision not to make use of an open door presented to them by God. After sending spies out across the Jordan river, the report that came back was the Canaanites were giants and impossible to overcome. The Israelites did not venture forward. The result of missing an opportunity was to backtrack into the wilderness and wander around for another forty years. They squandered their days in a morass of spiritual apathy; a loss of confidence until the next generation plucked up enough the courage to enter into God's promise. 

Both Isaiah and Peter in the the Old and New testament proclaimed that all of us are like grass. We are limp and fragile, easily influenced by temptations in an increasingly hedonistic world.  Like the Israelites, we turn our backs on God. That is why Paul warned in Ephesians 5:15-17, to make use of every  opportunity that presents itself to live according to God's will and not by the ways of the world.  

'Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.'

Putting across this opportunity comes, opportunity goes happenstance in life,  poet Robert Herrick (1591-1694), in 'To the Virgins, to make much of Time', introduced the familiar first verse:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying. 

Watch Robin Williams teach the lesson in a most inimitable way in the film Dead Poets' Society,

 

Solomon the Wise (Ecclesiastes 12:1) reminded all young people growing up:

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them.

 

Jesus Christ calls us to seize the day. He gathers us to Him. When He calls do not resist but make the most of the opportunity. God tends 'His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to his heart.' Isaiah 40:11.  

All we like sheep have gone astray

Each of us turning our own separate way

We have all sinned and fallen short of Your Glory

But Your glory is what we desire to see

And in Your presence is where we long to be

O Lord show us Your mercy and grace

Take us to Your Holy place

Forgive our sin and heal our land

We long to be in Your presence once again

Taking our sickness, taking our pain

Jesus the sacrifice Lamb has been slain

He was despised, rejected by men, He took our sins

Draw us near to you Father through Jesus Your Son

Let us worship before You cleansed by Your blood.  

TODAY, 'Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.' Isaiah 55:6

Lionel 

Christian Hospitality - Thank You For Being A Friend

'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.. Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you do for Me.' Matthew 25:35-36 and 40.

A Christian brother, Kenneth Lau, shared a story which left me with a lasting impression of Christian Hospitality and its positive influence on the recipient. Kenneth was a student in the USA and he related that one wintry day he decided to go on a cycling marathon. Unfortunately as it got dark, Kenneth cycled into snow storm. Soon he could no longer go further, whereupon he chanced on a brightly lighted house. He knocked on the door to ask for shelter. 

The host warmly welcomed him, sat him by the fire to dry and then invited him to join the family's thanksgiving dinner. There was Kenneth, intruding into this Christian family thanksgiving and yet, he was received as one of them and shared a happy meal. Perhaps the most memorable for Kenneth 

When the storm subsided, Kenneth cycled back to the University. He shared with us that at that encounter his Christian faith was strengthened for he had partaken of the love of God shared by this Christian family. This incident anchored his faith in Jesus Christ.    

What a fine example of Christian hospitality so wonderfully offered to a complete stranger! 

Hospitality was a hallmark of the early Christian church, the willingness to open up their homes to others, even to strangers. This was a major factor contributing to the spread of the gospel wherein itinerant preachers were offered accommodation in the homes of the early Christian families and shared meals. The early church was obedient to Christ's teaching in Matt 25, the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. 

Hebrews 13:2 reminded, 'Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.' In 3 John 1:5 the apostle John praised his friend Gaius, "Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you."

The sharing of a meal is a commonplace practice in Asian families especially with the Chinese. This is not the easiest thing to do. It is a gift. When we extend hospitality to friends and strangers, we have to receive them in a free and friendly space in which they will not feel strange but welcomed, the same way that Kenneth was welcomed that wintry thanksgiving evening. 

So let us be willing to share our private spaces. We can invite people into our lives yet exclude them from ourselves and keep them at a distance. Discover the other person and be a true friend because     

• True friends are lasting.
• True friends are anchored by God's love.
• True friends dare to love.
• True friends provide mutual encouragement.

That's what friends are for.