Covenant Presbyterian Church

A frustrating and destructive tendency of a consumerist society is the push to "get things done." I refer not to the legitimate responsibilities allotted to us by our heavenly Father or the desire to undertake much for his pleasure and glory. Nor do I condemn the spirit of hard work that so ornaments the profession of the gospel. I mean the tendency to value one’s life in terms of a completed to-do list and the practice of filling one’s list with as many activities as possible just to feel busy. It would seem that we value life in terms of finishing tasks, many of which we unnecessarily impose upon ourselves in order to achieve that elusive sense of fulfillment. "Doing things" has become our gospel. Through this we perhaps seek self-justification; fallen man always seeks to silence his conscience and do something to gain a footing before the dreaded day of judgment.

We also hide behind being busy - it makes us seem more important than we really are. It sometimes gives us an excuse to avoid people or at least in-depth human relationships, which are time consuming, challenging, and draining. As Christians, we often find ourselves too busy to attend to matters we know in our hearts should be given priority - especially consistent prayer and fellowship with our God and Savior. The result is spiritual impoverishment and personal frustration. We are like the overzealous school teacher who loads his students with busywork. He is not thereby facilitating learning but endeavoring to maintain control and keep his job.

The case might easily be made that a great many of the activities we deem important are only marginally so. In later years, for example, reflection upon your parenting will likely lead you to conclude that you wore yourself ragged trying to follow the opinions of experts who insisted that certain activities were necessary for a well-rounded child. You pushed, super-scheduled, and spent, not wanting to be "that parent" who failed to give his child every possible opportunity. The brief time you enjoyed with your children would have been better spent loving and talking with them more, playing sports as a family in the front yard, having more regular family worship, and reading quality literature with them. Think how much gas and money you would have saved, not to mention the hours spent transporting increasingly jaundiced children to one activity after another, hoping that by little Johnny’s exposure to everything he might finally develop a love for something. Children do not find their place in life through a confused jumble of activities but by learning who they are, who God wants them to be, and how to develop their particular gifts.

Life is busy. The expectations of society, legitimate duties, and the attendant "mad dash" through life will likely not change soon. Calls to "the simpler life" are interesting and compelling but unrealistic for most of us. There is something we can change, however, that will enable us to view our lives with a more balanced perspective. We can learn to relate better to the many duties the Lord places before us. We can learn to appreciate the gift of every day.

I am not thinking simply of the old Latin adage, Carpe diem, seize the day. There is a degree of fatalism in this sort of thinking. Yes, we will die, and the days of our lives are immutably determined by God. We should, therefore, make the most of every day in recognition of the brevity of life. Even Scripture teaches this basic lesson, though without the attendant Stoicism that accompanies its pagan misuse. Yet, because the days of our lives are determined by God, each day must be received as a gift from God and used to the best possible advantage. Because each day is another thread in his ever-expanding tapestry of grace, it must be lived gratefully, even enthusiastically. And most importantly, because our Savior is the Lord of every day, fills each day with his gifts and graces, and guides us each day one step closer to our everlasting inheritance, anticipation, watchfulness, and faithfulness must characterize our thinking and living.

You see, every day is a gift to the Christian because this life is preparation for the next (2 Cor. 4:17; Rev. 14:13). We are storing memories and deeds that will give us occasion to praise God in heaven, to look back upon his goodness and grace in perfected adoration. On difficult days, we see his faithfulness sustaining us, his love correcting us, and his sovereignty guiding us. On very difficult days, when faith seems to be hanging on by the slenderest of threads, he is holding the other end. No one can pluck us out of his hand; his work in us will be perfected (Phil. 1:6). On joyous days, we receive from his hand a thousand mercies and tokens of his love. Each of these days and all kinds of days are working for us an eternal weight of glory. We are sinful, and these lessons are often missed. We worry and fret, are filled with anxiety and frustration, and quench joy by trying to play God. Instead, since we live and die unto our God, let us learn to receive each day as a gift from his hand because the day really belongs to him - he has purposes to fulfill and his works to accomplish. His providence unfolds every hour. Yet, the only way to receive each day as a gift is to disclaim ownership of it and to wait upon the Lord, in prayer and dependence, to do with each day what he intends.

And the day of death will come - yours, a spouse, a child, a close friend. The believer lives with a difficult tension. God has created us to love, enjoy, and protect earthly life. At the same time, he has recreated us to desire perfected life with him through Jesus Christ. Paul felt this tension. To depart and be with Christ is better by far but to remain in the flesh was more needful for the Corinthians. He was torn between the two. On day this tension will be removed - on your dying day. It may come suddenly or after a lingering illness. It may occur early in life or after a long life. Even this day is a gift, and I firmly believe that the only way to live free from the fear of death is to view the day of your death as God’s last earthly gift to you. Admittedly, death is the wages of sin, and we cannot forget that it is also chastisement. But it is the last chastisement. And on every dying day, God’s gives dying grace, not only to endure to the end with faith in Christ but also to embrace the end as flight to Christ. Once we see our dying day as a gift, the day we will begin an eternity of indescribable joy in the presence of God, we can truly receive every day until then as a gift - not with the proud spirit of fatalism but with the eager hope of going home.

Until that day arrives, the Lord has plenty for you to do. Being busy is a good thing, if we are engaged in God-honoring activities through which we are seeking to glorify him and lay up treasures in heaven. It is exactly because every day is a gift from God that is must be seized - energetically, purposefully, and prayerfully, whatever it may be bring. Let not the Lord find you idle when he comes for you, either in death or upon the day of his glorious return. But remember that your many activities are not the sum of your life; they are not ends in themselves. They are means - means to enjoy God, to prepare for heaven, to serve others, to work hard in your particular calling, and to submit to God’s diverse providences in your life. Such a life is challenging to lead. We are so prone to try and play God, to attempt to control our lives, and to fall into the error of thinking that life is a to-do list to be finished. It is not. It is a gift to be received with gratitude and joy.