"Seize The Moment”and "Live Life To The Fullest”

“Seize The Moment”And “Live Life to the Fullest”

Phil. 3:7-16

Pastor Greg Mc Donald

A young soldier and his commanding officer got on a train together. The only available seats were across from an attractive young women who was traveling with her grandmother. As they engaged in pleasant conversation, the soldier and the young woman kept eyeing one another; the attraction was obviously mutual. Suddenly the train went into a tunnel and the car became pitch black.

Immediately two sounds were heard: the “smack” of a kiss, and the “whack” of a slap across the face. The grandmother thought “I can’t believe he kissed my granddaughter, but I’m glad she gave him the slap he deserved.”

The commanding officer thought, “I don’t blame the boy for kissing girl, but it’s a shame that she missed his face and hit me instead.”

The young girl thought, “I’m glad he kissed me, but I wish my grandmother hadn’t slapped him for doing it.”

And as the train broke into the sunlight, the soldier could not wipe the smile off his face. He had just seized the opportunity to kiss a pretty girl and slap his commanding officer and had gotten away with both!

Now, that young soldier knew how seize the opportunity! In the same way, we must take advantage of every opportunity that comes our way to fulfill our purpose in life.

Unfortunately, many times we get so caught up in the details of every day to day living that we just don’t have the time to seize the moment!

We’ve got deadlines and commitments, problems, and priorities, distractions and obstacles, and though we really want more fulfillment from each day, it just doesn’t seem to be within our grasp.

No one wants life to be just average, at least not many of us are willing to admit it. But by nature, we want our lives to be full and prosperous.

Advertisers know about this basic human desire that we have and produce it into slogans: Who Says You Can’t Have It All, Just Do It, Satisfy Your Thirst, Life Is A Journey - Enjoy The Ride and so on.

I believe this was the Apostle Paul’s philosophy on life and in Phil.3 he puts it easily within our grasp. Here he describes his own philosophy of life.

Read Phil. 3:7-16

If we would only learn to follow his example here in this scripture, we can learn to make the most of every opportunity and live life to the fullest, no matter how hectic your life may seem.

Paul shows us three simple ways in these verses to live a more fulfilling life.

1) Find Your Purpose.

If I were to ask everyone in this room today “What is your purpose in life?” I would probably get several different answers. “Be a good wife or husband, be a good mother or father, do my job better, be a good teacher, nurse, mechanic, salesperson, and so on.”

Those answers would be good, but they are all secondary purposes. The question is what is your primary purpose in life? In other words, what is your reason for living? Everything in creation has a primary purpose, or a reason for existing. For anyone or anything to be successful, it must fulfill that purpose.

Here’s an easy question. What is the primary purpose of an ink pen? The answer, of course, is to write. Here is a $3.00 gold engraved pen that is out of ink. It may be pretty to look at, but it is a failure as a pen; it is not fulfilling its purpose. It is useless.

So what will you do when the time comes to sign your paycheck that you desperately need come payday, and this pen doesn’t work? You’ll bypass the nice looking gold pen, and use a $.29 Bic that works.

That may seem like a simple illustration, but just as a pen has a primary purpose, every individual that God has created has a primary purpose. Our lives will be without meaning - we’ll be failures - unless we find out what is our purpose ... our reason for living.

Paul stated his reason for living ... Read (vv.10-11).

Paul is saying “I want to know Christ so that I may be like Him.” Simply put, Paul’s reason for living was to be like Jesus. This is also to be our reason for living.

Orison Swett Marden said, “There’s no greater sight in the world than that of a person fired with a great purpose, dominated by one unwavering aim.” If this statement describes anyone of us here today, then we would certainly be learning to “seize each and every moment.”

There’s a second step Paul shows us in Phil.3. In developing the ability to “seize the moment.” Every day of our lives, he says we must: