Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
Years back, I listened to a preacher who has become a household name in Nigeria. He told the story of how he started in ministry with some brethren. They started their ministry on campus with some brethren. One of them left the ministry and traveled out of the country because he had the opportunity. Others stayed back and laboured till the ministry became renowned. Several years after, he returned to the country looking for his old friends they started the ministry together. Eventually, he found the leader and it was a great reunion but not without regrets. This man told the leader, "I've been hearing your name". There was a tone of regret in his voice because other lieutenants had become big with international recognition. He knew he missed something years after he left them.
In the pursuit of your God-given purpose, there are several opportunities that will come your way. The first type of opportunities that beckons are mostly the opportunities that will derail you from your assignment. They look good, pleasant and appealing. Those opportunities come in time of trouble, lack and discomfort. They always appear as the solution to a problem but in the long run, they are not. Accepting those opportunities will make you live a good life but not a fulfilled life. In third world nations where people suffer due to poor economic conditions, the desire of the average man is to live a good life. After settling for a good life, then the search for fulfilment begins instead of doing the latter first. Don't discard your convictions for opportunities that promises good life instead of fulfilment.
The second category of opportunities that come are those that establish you in your God-given assignment. They often look like responsibility and work in the outlook. They're not attractive but they're loaded with the benefits. They don't come early, mostly they come when you get busy doing what God has sent you to do. From the day God sends you on the errand of His purpose for your life, opportunities will come, you need to be sensitive to know which is from God for your lifting. You need to always pray God to show you opportunities that are not in line with His will and those that are in His will for your life. In Philippians 3:13, Paul said, "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead". Some opportunities can be a distraction from your assignment, beware.
Father, open my eyes to know those opportunities that are for me and those that aren't for me in Jesus name.