Time and Chance

by Jim Fryer
(Cincinnati, OH USA)

Ecclesiastes 9:1-18

INTRODUCTION: Time and Chance affects everyone. It controls everyone. Time is so widely used that there over 15 different uses of the word. It is usually a type of measure that we use to help guage our existence.

Chance on the other hand has much fewer. The main use is "an event that happens, falls out or takes place, without being contrived, intended, expected or foreseen, i.e. "we met by chance."

How you use Time and Chance often determines if your life is joyful and considered a success.

From our perspective Time is how we measure our existence while Chance is how we control our existence. We see chance as something that happens outside our control. If we see chance from God's perspective it can only be called Providence.

Remember these sayings?

"You have only one opportunity (chance) to make a good impression."
"Hit the iron while it is hot."
"The early bird gets the worm."

All of these and many more express how we see time and chance.

There are four important things we must do with our time and chance (opportunities).

I. We must take advantage of every opportunity to ELEVATE family.

See: Deut 6:7-9 and Joshua 4:21-24

II. We must take advantage of every opportunity to ENCOURAGE friends.

See: Hebrews 10:24-25; Galatians 6:10; and Philippians 4:10

III. We must take advantage of every opportunity to ENGAGE seekers.

See: Acts 8:30-31, 34-35; Acts 10:17-20; Acts 16:26-34

IV. We must take advantage of every opportunity to ENTERTAIN the Lord.

See: Acts 14:27; Acts 16:14; Isaiah 55:6

CONCLUSION: What mankind calls chance, the Bible clearly calls the Providence of God. What you think is just a chance happening most often is God intervening in the affairs of man.

We must measure our existence and control our existence to be effective servants and effective churches.