Years ago Eminem asked, “…If you had one shot, or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted—one moment—would you capture it, or just let it slip?”
Each March the NCAA basketball tournament reminds me to consider that question. As the national champions cut down the nets CBS shows a video mash-up that captures the emotion of the tournament’s best moments. A highlight for many fans is when the song “One Shining Moment” plays to a steady beat of stirring images. Though intended to tell the story of the tournament, the song also captures the heart of how we should view our life on earth. HERE is my favorite as an example.
If you’ve played sports, you know about these “one moments.” They are equal parts exciting and frightening. They make the difference in the outcome. It’s when you step to the plate with the game on the line or take the shot as time expires. Your team is counting on you and the crowd is on the edge of their seats. Tension in the air is palpable; everything hangs in the balance. But you don’t have to be an athlete to experience a moment like that, you are living in one right now.
Are you capturing your “one moment” or letting it slip?
Your choices answer that question every day. Scripture tells us that our life is a vapor, a mist, a moment (James 4:14). If you are reading this then your life is hanging in the air right now.
Right now you’re on center stage.
Right now, it’s your time.
This life, these few precious years, are your one shining moment. Still unsure? Consider this: Scripture makes it clear that this life is all you have (Hebrews 9:27), and all of creation is watching and wondering what will happen (Rom. 8:19), wondering who will respond to God’s call. Even the angels are watching us, perhaps wishing they’d been given a chance to be a human, to have an earthly life. The opportunity is before you and incredibly important.
Disciples seize their moment by growing into multiplying disciple makers. As they grasp the reality of this life, they are willingly surrender everything to His plan. As a result, their lives are lived with an agenda that transcends the values and priorities society tells us are important.
Those who make the most of their moment grasp and live into three realities.
1. Mission Vision – Disciple makers see the big vision. The battle for perspective is often the difference between a life well-invested and a life wasted. A disciple maker keeps THE mission in focus. He sees that God is committed to reaching all nations for Himself. He sees the whole story of God in the Scriptures—the message of reconciliation delivered through everyday people. He knows this moment in eternity is important, but not more so than any other. He reminds himself that God is not a part of his story; he is a part of God’s story.
2. Local Movement – Disciple makers balance big vision with local movement. The nations are reached one heart at a time, by the local spilling over to the regional and the regional finally reaching the globe. Each disciple maker must be faithful to her part, in her location. She must be diligent to pursue righteousness in her own life, to love and disciple others to maturity, and to give herself fully to the work the Lord has given her to do (1 Cor. 15:58). She can see the world through the lens of her local context. She isn’t seduced by the lie that touching many is better than transforming a few.
3. Urgent Motivation – Disciple makers live out the mission with urgency and intensity. God calls us to a kingdom role that’s bigger than a job, hobby, or interest. God calls us to become and to live out of that becoming (2 Cor. 5:17-18). It’s who we are. God calls us to advance a Kingdom that has been forcefully advancing since the days of John the Baptist. He calls us to be flames of fire who forcefully advance His Kingdom (Mt. 11:12 NIV). There is a resonant force that accompanies those who wholly embrace this calling. That force comes from the Holy Spirit who is described not as timid, but as powerful, loving, and disciplined (1 Tim. 1:7). So, then it’s no surprise that disciple makers advance the kingdom in the same way.
Embracing your one shining moment is not easy. Letting it slip is as easy as it is tempting. We are constantly bombarded by messages designed to sway us from the purpose God has given. The reality is there’s a daily fight through the disciple makers’ greatest obstacle. Day after day, we must struggle to maintain perspective on what it is we are here to do. Some days it feels like our purpose is buried underneath a mountain of more appealing options.
Still, disciple makers understand that God not only chose this as your moment, He also framed it. He chose this to be the time and the exact location for your moment (Acts 17:26). This moment—your moment—has been carefully crafted just for you to make an impact in His Kingdom.
The question is what will you do with it: will you capture it or let it slip?
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