BULLETIN ARTICLE – 7 0ctober 2018
Patrick Morley in his book “Seven Seasons of the Man in the Mirror” wrote of “Defining Moments”. He referred a defining moment to “a watershed experience that shapes a man’s character and determines the direction of his life. Defining moments determine destinies.” In the Bible, there are many examples of defining moments. For the prophet Jonah, he was given the task of bringing the “repentance from their evil ways” message to the people of Nineveh. But Jonah made the wrong decision at the defining moment and ran away from the task that God had given to him. Jesus spoke of the parable where the prodigal son came to realise his foolishness and, in the defining moment, decided to go back to his home and father.
For Christians, there is a point in time when one made the commitment to believe in Jesus Christ. That is a defining moment. In the case of the Apostle Paul, his defining moment happened on the road to Damascus where he was heading for to arrest followers of the Way. Having met the Lord Jesus Christ along the way, Paul’s life was totally transformed. The course of Christianity was also changed. Instead of persecuting Christians, Paul went about to spread the message of Jesus Christ. Paul’s other defining moment can also include his decision to stay in Ephesus and minister to the Christians there. In Acts 20, where Paul met with the Ephesian elders, he recollected the difficult three years that he spent with them. “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents” (Acts 20:18b-19). At different seasons of one’s life, God calls each one to different responsibilities. One can evade that responsibility just like Jonah did or in the case of Paul, he carried on the task despite the many difficulties he faced. Patrick Morley concluded in the chapter on defining moments: “How would the Holy Spirit have me respond? What have you been putting off? Don’t put off any longer what the Lord is telling you to do. Defining moments can make us or break us. The choice is ours.”
“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24).
