One Day At A Time
“Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13,15
Have you ever stopped to think that today is the smallest division of God-given time? Seconds, minutes, hours are artificial, man-made time divisions, but the period of time from morning to evening is the shortest division of time on God’s clock!
Time is a strange thing in itself. It is like electricity poles you pass as you drive down the road, but like a fence, it encloses our lives, and between the two poles of life and death we are very much prisoners of time.
The perplexing part of it is that we all know when time began, at least for us individually, since time is reckoned from the date of our birth. But we are never quite sure when God will press the stop-watch, and time will have become history.
Have you ever thought about the way time governs our life? We live by the clock. We are bound to schedules and deadlines, and we think that the world will stop unless we make those deadlines. But sometimes it is good for us to realize that when our schedules go awry, life will still go on.
We need to learn to live one day at a time for God has promised guidance and direction for just today. Time and time again, the Bible emphasizes the importance of today. God promised, “As your days, so shall your strength be” Deuteronomy 33:25
When Christ taught His disciples to pray, He said, “After this manner, therefore, pray, ‘Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread!” There you have it again. Give us this day – not tomorrow – not next year – but meet our needs today.
You may be frustrated because your schedule and your goals haven’t worked out the way you planned. Yet, there’s good news! God promises help for just today.
He said, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows them that trust in Him” Nahum 1:7.
Living in the present does not mean a total disregard of the past nor a nonchalant attitude toward the future. It means that you find God’s grace to cope with the circumstances of each day. God will give us His strength for today. Amen