Opportunity is Knocking - 1 Corinthians 15-16

Opportunity is knocking!!  That statement is a nice catch phrase we use for all kinds of inspiration. Business would use the phrase to further their bottom line.   Athletes may ponder these words as challenge mounts to secure the championship and/or prize. A student may see these three little words as hope for the future.   Paul, and, hopefully all believers, saw it in the context of what God has planned for the spread of the gospel.   Paul life was hectic to say the leasts.   He gives us a glimpse of the pace and pressures of his life in 2 Corinthians 11.   Not something most of us would think was a "effective door open to me," or, opportunity knocking.   Paul is not saying he has been presented with a cruise ship filled with other believers to visit the promise land and the islands of the deep. Paul is not envisioning a crystal cathedral or the court yard of the Vatican. When Paul says a door is open to him he means he sees a chance to speak the Gospel (15:1). The "opportunity" comes with it all the hazards of the ministry.   In just a moment he will tell the Corinthians to not "labor in vain" (15:58) because he knows how much of a struggle the "door of opportunity" can present. In this section he is telling these believers that he can't come to them because a "great" door has opened that he might preach the gospel.  But, big doors often have bigger problems.  Paul knows this and embraces this.   He is ready to move forward. He is ready to take the opportunity that God presents.  That is because Paul knows that with the big opportunity there may be bigger problems but there is also a very, very big God pulling the strings.   He is ready to walk through the door. I wish I was!!!