2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. (Colossians 4:2-5)
These are definitely different times. Businesses are closed and boarded up and streets have a fraction of the cars that would normally be on them. People were so worried about a shortage of toilet paper that they started stocking up on it months in advance. Now there seems to be a shortage of hair clippers as people rush to find ways to cut their hair. Walk to any of the few stores that are still open, and you have to wait in line, standing 2 metres apart before they let you in. Once inside, you see many people wearing masks. These are different times indeed. But Paul’s instructions to the Colossians still apply to us.
Our interactions may be limited with social distancing, working from home and home schooling, but in some ways, these interactions may be more important than ever. People are looking for answers, and short of answers, people are looking for anything that can help them cope with the times. Every interaction we have, even more than ever, may be an opportunity for us to share the gospel. Like Paul, we should not only be praying for ourselves, our comfort and safety during these difficult, but we should also be praying for God to open doors for us to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with our co-workers, classmates, neighbours and anyone else we may have the opportunity to interact with. And we need to make the most of every interaction we have. We need to “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.”
These are different and difficult times for everyone. But imagine how difficult the times are for those who do not know our Lord and Saviour. Imagine how stressful it must be for those who are trying to live through the current pandemic and state of the world without the hope of a resurrected Saviour. This pandemic has changed life for everyone and made life more difficult for many people. But this pandemic has also opened door for us to have conversations about faith like never before. We need to, more than ever before, pray for the Lord to open doors so that we can proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ (v.3), pray that we can proclaim the gospel clearly (v.4) and we need to be wise in the way we act toward outsiders and make the most of every opportunity God presents before us.