Ephesians 5:16a – Opper Nockity

… making the most of every opportunity

Summary: Old jokes and old sayings are the bulk of today’s meditation. Paul’s “opportunity” is also translated as “time” and “season.” The real question is, “What are you doing now?”

There is an old joke about a man named Opper Nockity. Mr. Nockity was a piano tuner and was considered the best in the world. In the story, Mr. Nockity lives in a kingdom in olden times. The king’s son is getting married, and the king wants to make sure everything is just right for the wedding, so he hires Mr. Nockity to tune the royal piano.

Since Mr. Nockity was old and very eccentric, the man in charge of the royal piano had to bring the piano to Mr. Nockity to be tuned. Mr. Nockity tuned the piano and sent it back to the king with a strict instructions not to bump it on the way. Otherwise, the piano might be jolted out of tune again. The piano movers gently put the piano on a cart and began the long journey back to the castle.

On the way, the cart breaks loose, and the piano and cart go bumping down a hill, causing the piano to be out of tune again. The piano mover and the man in charge of the royal piano took the piano back to Mr. Nockity and asked him to re-tune the piano. Mr. Nockity refuses. When asked why he wouldn’t tune the piano again, Mr. Nockity sternly replies, “Opper Nockity tunes but once!”

(If you say the punch line out loud, it sounds like the old saying, “Opportunity knocks but once.”)

Okay … so much for old jokes. What does Paul mean when he says we should make the most of every opportunity?

The Greek word translated “opportunity” is also translated “time.” The NIV is one of the few translations to use “opportunity” instead of “time” in this verse.

So how do we make the most of our time?

The word “time” is almost as misleading as “opportunity” in this context. Time is not a continuous thread of events where we get to pick and choose what we do. Time is really “now.” As the old saying goes (I’m full of old sayings today!), “Yesterday is gone forever, tomorrow never comes, today is all we have.”

In this sense, Paul is saying, “Make the most of this day that God has given you.” To put it into the context of being wise, another way of putting it is to say, “Make sure this day is centered around God.”

What is God’s will for you today? He wants you to love and honor your Creator. Then, he wants you to love (agapé) your neighbor, the people you meet during the day, as you love and care for yourself.

Application: Now is the time to look to Christ and listen to his Holy Spirit.

Food for Thought: What does it mean to procrastinate when it comes to doing God’s will?