Tit. 3:1 ... "Remind them ... to be ready for every good deed."
An opportunity combines three basic factors: an act to be done, a person to perform that act, and a time that is favorable for the act to be done. Within the context of Christian service there is so much to be done that continually awaits those who are able and will seize any available time to do it. Jesus once called attention to the great amount of work to be done and the urgency of doing it with the statement, "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest," (John 4:35). The opportunity is always present for any Christian to perform some valuable service for the Lord, but too often it is wasted because of inattention, lack of preparation, and weak motivation. Using Jesus' analogy, the grain is allowed to remain in the field until it falls ungathered to the ground to be eaten by birds and rodents. Paul's words to Titus in 3:1 urged him to exhort the disciples in Crete to watch for any opportunity to serve, to prepare for the moment, and be ready when the time arrived. This exhortation is as applicable to Christians now as it was to those so long ago.
The works we must do come not upon us as something expansive, vague, or categorical, but rather as distinct, specific things. We don't just "teach"; we teach individuals! And we don't just "comfort"; we go to specific individuals at definite places and personally help them carry their burdens. The Lord appointed His disciples to be those who perform these deeds of Christian service. This assignment is emphasized in the statement of Eph. 2:10, "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." These works, it should be noticed, are not divinely imposed upon "the church" or "the brotherhood" as such. "The church" cannot teach a class of Third Graders the lesson conveyed in the account of Jesus' visit to Jerusalem when He was 12 years old. And "the brotherhood" cannot visit the home of a widowed mother to console her and offer her assistance as she faces the great task of rearing her children alone. But the individual Christian can and must do these things and innumerable other such deeds like them.
An act of Christian service can only be performed by a disciple within the framework of a suitable time. You cannot comfort a cancer patient in his physical and mental anguish after he has died. It is quite too late to try to instill convictions of purity, chastity, and respect for motherhood to a young woman after she has already conceived a child out of wedlock. That effort should have been underway before she ever reached puberty. To return to Jesus' analogy in John 4:35, these illustrations represent grain we try to gather after it has fallen to the ground and been damaged or destroyed.
To be able to perform a good deed at the right time to the glory of the Lord, some preparation is necessary. First, you must be able to recognize the opportunity when it occurs. This requires keen perception and mental alertness, both of which are developed by diligent study of God's word and prayer. Second, you must train yourself to have the strength, motivation, and skill to perform the deed. The maxim that "one learns by doing" certainly applies here. No matter how informed someone might be about an activity, only experience can translate this knowledge into an effective skill, and that experience comes only through sustained effort. Third, you must have the sense of urgency to arouse yourself to perform the deed during the time span in which it can be done. If Christians would truly "be ready for every good deed," we would make an astounding impression for the Lord upon our decadent and infidel society.
