54. Today is just another day in the eternal life you're living with God, and He wants to share it with you.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. {Psalm 118:24}
I love this verse from Psalms. It tells us to rejoice in this day because God has made it, and we’re spending it with Him. It doesn’t say a single thing about whether it’s a “good” day or a “bad” day. It doesn’t mention whether we’re attending a wedding or a funeral. It says to rejoice in this day that you are living with your Creator.
It echoes that famous advice from Paul, to be thankful in all circumstances. And I think, truly, the only way we can begin to do this is when we know and understand that we really do have eternal life now and whatever happens today is part of that life. For what is eternity, but an unending string of days, lived one at a time with our God, to whom we are connected as the Source of Life? Sharing with Him what happens today is the most important thing, because that’s the common denominator for the life we live in this world and the life we will live in the world to come. One life will span both worlds, and the substance of that life will be days of experiences shared with our God.
I have always been so struck with Job’s response after his family and fortune were stripped from him in a single day. The Bible says he fell to the ground in worship, saying, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” That continues to humble and challenge me, calling me into an ever-deeper relationship with God, one that would cause me to view each event primarily as one to be shared with Him. No matter what, we may choose to praise God.
If you want to dig deeper—
Job 1:20-21
Psalm 16:11
Proverbs 27:1
Ecclesiastes 5:18-20
Ecclesiastes 7:14
Isaiah 41:10
Isaiah 43:18-19
Matthew 6:31-33
Luke 23:43
2 Corinthians 4:18
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Hebrews 13:5
James 4:14