Experiencing Heaven on Earth Each Day
"So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.” Matthew 6:34 (TLB)
A beloved Seminary Professor was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma and given six months to live. It was devastating news to this middle-aged husband and father of a young daughter. Alone in his hospital room that night, he cried out to God as any of us would. He prayed one of those just for today prayers. Just for today, Lord, help me to make sense of this. Just for today, Lord, give me the ability to see Your hand at work. Just for today, Lord, give me peace. As he prayed and waited before the Lord, he said the Holy Spirit led him to the passage where the apostle Paul prayed three times for God to remove a painful physical infirmity he described as a “thorn in his flesh.” He wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NLT) “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time He said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
The Professor said the Holy Spirit gently whispered to him, “I don’t give dying grace on non-dying days. Just live one day at a time.” That one day changed the way he would live every day. By God’s grace and goodness, he returned to his position at the Seminary where over the next three years he continued to train young pastors, missionaries, and evangelists with a renewed passion for each new day. He began a ministry to hospice patients counseling thousands of them over that time span to live one day at a time with the encouragement that God’s grace would be sufficient for every need, that His power works best in our weakness for when we are weak, He is strong. He viewed each day as the gift God had given him.
Hopefully, you’ve never been diagnosed with a terminal illness or been given a defined measure of time left to live. But the truth is, we all live on borrowed time. Before God created life on earth, He created one day. He chose to frame the way He wanted us to experience life within a 24-hour period. Each day had an ending and a beginning. Evening and morning. Each day is His gift to us. It’s the only means by which we encounter life, and we encounter God, one day at a time. That makes every day a new treasure and an opportunity to experience heaven on earth by receiving His sustaining grace! Are you living your life one day at a time? Or have you become so anxious about the future that you miss the gift of this one day? Perhaps you’re so burdened by regrets from your past, you can’t open the gift of today. Instead of heaven on earth, your life feels more like hell.
Jesus understood our nature to let past or future worries rob us of the treasure He offers us today when He preached the Sermon on the Mount. He said, "So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.” Matthew 6:34 (TLB)
Worrying about tomorrow is like revving up your engine. It just burns a lot of gas and doesn’t get you anywhere. Someone once said that the average person is crucifying himself between two thieves, the regrets of yesterday and the worries about tomorrow. Are these two thieves robbing you of the blessing of today, the blessing of experiencing heaven on earth one day at a time?
As with Paul, God promises His grace to each of us one day at a time. He doesn’t give grace for tomorrow now. He only gives His grace as it is needed. So don’t be anxious about your tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time and experience His grace as you need it. His power works best in our weakness. When we are weak, we learn to depend on His strength.