“Sufficient for the day is…” Matthew 6:34

How many of us are more preoccupied with our ‘tomorrows’ instead of our ‘todays’? What is it that motivates us to think of tomorrow – something we look forward to or dread?

In context, this verse is a command to be free from anxiety, future concerns that distract us from God, but there is also the focus of today – deal with today, “Sufficient for the day…”

There are three aspects that take place each day; some days where all take place simultaneously: trouble, grace and wonder. Any kind of trouble could suddenly assail any of us – with God’s permission – but then His grace is totally sufficient to match what ever level of trouble. Then there is wonder – amazement at what God’s grace brings about, something that leaves us lost for words; His peace and calmness experienced when naturally we’re inclined to panic and give way, that sense of wonder that ALL is well because we have heard Him say, “Peace…it is I…do not be afraid.”

God gifts us with a new day that needs repeating – God gifts us with each new day. Why? To know Him more; to explore His wonder; His grace in our lives. God only permits trouble in our lives so that His grace will be made known; trouble is not an end in itself. Of course, there are times when His grace is made known to us in seasons of quietness, when conflict has given way to God’s blessing but that is not the norm.

Many of us may be looking for answers for our ‘tomorrows’. They will never come from an inquiry that is anxious. The answers for our ‘tomorrows’ will only come as we are rightly connected to Christ – abiding in Him – undisturbed because His peace is the umpire and ruler of our hearts in the ‘here’ and ‘now’; get today right and we will have light for tomorrow. God is ever bringing our attention to today, what is happening currently. Are we walking with Him here or are we off running to organize and secure something six months from now?  There is nothing wrong with sensible planning for the future so long as God is not left out of the calculation. The problem is that some of us live like atheists the way we make plans for the future.

Some of us live in anticipation for next week, next month or the following year when the big thing happens; we despise the day of small things, and in God’s economy they are just as important, if not more, than the big event what ever it may be. Sometimes our obsession with that ‘forward look’ deprives us of the glorious moments and wonder that God has placed in each of our days, waiting to be opened. Every step of the journey is entwined with a destination. It is pointless and an utter waste of time to skip to the last chapter of a book; there is a great ending but an enormous detachment of what the whole subject is about, as pointless to win a victory without conflict.

Our days of small things may ‘appear’ to be dull in comparison to days of great achievement and success when obscurity gives way to popularity. It is the day of small things that make us who we really are, and is the mercy of God that preserves us from an egocentric disposition for a Christ-centered lifestyle. After all, it is what we’re here for, to conform to the image of God’s Son.

In our ‘small’, ‘insignificant’ and ‘boring’ days, what are we doing with the immense amount of time on our hands? Boredom in the Christian is a demand to be selfishly entertained. It is impossible to experience boredom when we are obedient to God – IMPOSSIBLE! We have been called to a LIFE of obedience, not just sporadic moments.

Each and every day is unique, like no snowflake being the same – ever, or a special moment that can never be replicated. Each new day is a given opportunity by God – Whose mercies are new every morning – to know and experience Him, Who is an eternal Revelation. Are we aware that God will never, ever come to an end of revealing more of Himself eternally? The facets of God’s majesty and beauty are endless. The sad thing is we hardly give time to contemplate these realities.

The essence of eternal life is knowing God (John 17:3) and such life began when we were born of the Spirit of God. I know we await to have our bodies fashioned like that of our glorified Lord Jesus Christ. That day is closer than yesterday, and if there’s any ‘forward look’ into the future, then that day is it – the final consummation of all things when all shall be made brand new! But we can know God now, in the ‘here’ and ‘now’ – these very passing moments. Our mundane circumstances can be transfigured by a sense of wonder because of Him, Who makes all the difference to our day, because we see HIM, His grace manifesting in and through our lives where the promises of scripture become a burning, living reality. We don’t have to wait for our situation to improve in order to know God; our greatest moments of knowing God are not postponed until we arrive at the ‘palace’ of our circumstances; we can gloriously know Him IN the prison which is just as precious, if not more so, than Joseph being released as prisoner and promoted to Prime Minister of the world’s once most elite power.