Living Life

TITLE: Living Life
DATE: June 28, 2019
TEXT: Psalm 118:24 ESV  24 This is the day that the Lord has made;   let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.

Recently a pastor wrote me about a man in his congregation who was celebrating his 100th birthday.

During the party, a friend came up to the centenarian and said, "Fred, I congratulate you on this wonderful milestone. The only thing I regret is that you won’t be around to celebrate your second hundredth.”

Apparently it was an idea the birthday boy hadn’t thought much about. He grew silent for a bit as he pondered what had been said. Then he broke into a big smile and replied…

“Well, maybe so, but if I were you, I wouldn’t put much money down on that bet. After all, I just might be around for my 200th.  The truth is, I’m feeling much stronger starting my second century than I was when I began the first.”
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Bravo!

The truth is, nobody knows what their future will hold. Most certainly there will be joys and sorrows, sad days and glad days. The only thing of which we can be absolutely certain is that the Lord is in control and the Savior Who has won the last and final victory for us has promised to be by our side.

Those are truths in which each of us should believe.

After all, numerous philosophers have pointed out you can't change the past; and observing the lives of those around us enforces the idea that we don’t know what tomorrow will bring or if tomorrow will come at all.

All we can do is say "the Lord has given me this day; He has given me the strength to enjoy it or to survive it, or to come home to be with Him in paradise forever.

Whichever way things turn out, I will put this day into the hands of the Savior Who gave His life so that I might be blessed with an abundant life now and a perfect life in the everlasting hereafter. In John 10:10 He said that was one of the reasons He had come.

It seems to me that if more people adopted that viewpoint most of our worries about the future could  be put to rest, and the regrets of the past would be forgotten. We would be able to live our lives saying, “this is the day the Lord has made.”

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, each day that we can wake up and live in Your love is a gift. Help me appreciate Your presence, Your grace, Your Son. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html