Your answer to the question of whether you are an opportunist likely depends on your life experience and the context in which the word is used.  As for the first part (personal experience), most everyone has heard the word bandied about.  Most of us have seen the term used to describe the nature or behavior of another person, as in “she is an opportunist” (noun).  A person who acts that way, is said to be opportunistic (adjective).  Chances are, you yourself have applied this word to someone else.

Is being an opportunist good or bad?  The definition of the word suggests a negative connotation.  An opportunist capitalizes on circumstances favorable to him or her and exploits them to gain an (often unfair) advantage over others.  Opportunists may not have a fixed code of conduct and do not necessarily feel bound by moral or ethical constraints.  Their actions are not guided by core principles, making them more difficult to predict or guard against.  A bad experience with an opportunist will tend to color future interactions with individuals of this type.

But care must be taken to avoid overgeneralizing.  Context is critical.  Opportunism is overlooked or even forgiven in many cases, as when someone overcomes unfavorable conditions with audacity, initiative, creativity, and hustle.  Along the way, they may change the rules of the game, get the jump on others or serve their own needs first.  Yet, we tend to call opportunism of this sort ‘making the best of a bad situation,’ and praise the opportunist as clever, resourceful, daring, and so on.

When volatile financial markets gyrate and plans go south, your money manager may be forced to improvise. Investment involves making trades in which you ultimately profit from the financial misfortunes of others (and they are doing the same).  Yet, how many investors question or refuse the gains on the grounds that their financial advisor acted opportunistically?  Instead, they applaud his shrewdness and praise his nimbleness and business acumen.

It so happens that Jesus Christ encountered (and still does) myriads of opportunists, who attempt to exploit Him for personal gain—mimics, hedonists, religionists, materialists,  manipulators, controllers, scam artists, empire builders—the list goes on.  Intriguingly, there is one name on the list that keeps cropping up at crucial moments. The scriptures identify him as the consummate opportunist. He is none other than the Devil himself.

His opportunistic character, strategy and tactics are laid bare in the Bible’s Book of Job.  This book pulls back the curtain to reveal much about the spiritual realm and the ruthless opportunism of Satan.

Job tells the story of a wealthy and righteous man, whom Satan accuses of worshipping God only because God protects and prospers him.  Satan challenges God to allow him to prove his point by physically attacking Job, his family, and all that he has.  God grants Satan limited and temporary authority to try to make good on his claims.  Satan chooses an opportune time, when Job’s sons and daughters are feasting and celebrating with one another.  Then he launches an all-out attack, choreographing each blow so that each bearer of bad news to Job is still speaking when the next rushes in with more ill tidings—opportunism of the most savage and skillful kind.

Three of the four Gospels inform us that the Devil tempted Jesus in a bleak and lonely wilderness, when He was physically weak from a 40-day fast, as preparation for embarking on His public ministry.  Jesus defeated each temptation with Scripture and without sin.  [If He hadn’t, there would have been no Christ, no cross, and no Christianity.]. Did Satan throw in the towel, give up and go home?  Nope.  According to Luke’s account, “And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season” (Luke 4:13).  He would bide his time and hope for another, perhaps even more opportune moment.

When one of Jesus’ own disciples schemed to sell Him out, just as Jesus and the Scriptures had foretold that he would, Satan thought the opportune moment was near.  A deal was struck and Judas began looking for an opportune time to deliver his Master to torture and death.  Leaving nothing to chance, the Devil actually took possession of Judas:

“Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.  And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.  And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.  And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.”  (Luke 22:3-6)

When that time arrived, (the evening of Jesus’ last Passover with His disciples), the Devil once again possessed Judas (John 13:27).  Satan sought to ensure that Jesus would not escape, so he handled matters personally.  He failed to see that it was Jesus who had set a trap for HIM, by willingly submitting to God’s plan for saving sinners.  Jesus would go to the cross and the grave—willingly, obediently, sacrificially—eyes wide open, only to rise again victorious, securing the salvation of countless penitent souls and sealing the doom of legions of devils and their mortal collaborators.

If you have not surrendered your heart, your life, your all to Jesus Christ, what are you waiting for?  Do you find it inconvenient to repent of your sin just now?  Are you not yet ready to forsake your pride, lay down your arms, renounce your rebellion and bow the knee to the King?  Are you still unwilling to confess Him as your Lord and Savior, and humbly reach out for the pardon Jesus died to give you?

Are you willing to bet an eternity in heaven, face-to-face with the glorious presence of God, against an eternity in hell, permanently separated from Him?  God has not guaranteed you any more time in which to make your choice.  It may run out faster than it takes to exhale the breath in your lungs at this instant.  This is not about guilt.  This is not about fear.  This is reality.  There is a right way and a wrong way to respond to God’s love and His offer of forgiveness.  One path leads to life, the other leads to death.

Nearly twenty centuries ago, the Apostle Paul wrote:

“We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)”  (II Corinthians 6:1-2)

It is not ours, but God’s to define the opportune time to believe and obey the Gospel.  It is He who urges that His grace (undeserved favor) toward us will not be in vain (wasted).  He has declared that the acceptable time to turn from your sins and come to Him is NOW.  He says that NOW is the day of salvation.

This is a choice we all must make. My own decision echoes Psalm 69:13, “But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.”

You may be thinking, “I can pray, but will God listen?  What if I accept Him, but He does not accept me?”  God’s word assures all who put their faith and trust in Jesus, that He hears their prayer to receive His mercy, rather than be treated as they deserve: “Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee…” (Isaiah 49:8)

Are you an opportunist?  Do you understand that the opportune time is now?  Will you take advantage?  I pray that you will.  Here’s how.

HOW TO BE SAVED:

• Admit to God that you are a sinner (that you have not kept His moral law to perfection; in your thoughts, words, and actions you have done what His law forbids and have failed to do what His love demands).  This is seeing yourself from God’s point of view and agreeing that He is right about you.  Be as specific as you can.
• Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead.
• Sincerely repent (turn away) from your sins, asking God to forgive you and to use His power to help you resist temptation, no matter how strong the pull of sin may be, at first.
• Acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life.  Invite Him to move into your heart and take up residence there, so that He can change you from the inside out.
• Trust His promise to save you and give you a new spiritual birth and a new nature (thoughts, desires, priorities, hopes, dreams, and character).

SOME KEY TRUTHS:

• “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)
• “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10)
• “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)
• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)
• “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)
• “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”  (I Corinthians 15:3,4)
• “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)
• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…”  (Revelation 3:20)
• “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  (Romans 10:13)
• “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”  (Romans 10:9-10)
• “Verily, verily, I say unto you; He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life; and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”  (John 5:24)
• “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.”  (John 20:31) 
• “These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”  (I John 5:13)