The Day God Has Given You

“Live each day as though it were your last, and carry out each task as though it were the final work entrusted to you.”

Those words come from an anonymous source, and I’ve read them many times. Perhaps now, as I get older – and maybe a little wiser - the truth of those words not only rings true, but feels personal.

Without sounding maudlin, there is wisdom in remembering that our days are numbered. We often live as though tomorrow is guaranteed. Procrastinators we are, one and all, and I am the leader of this tribe! Our 24/7 clock ticks away, reminding us of all the things we need to do. Work, family and responsibilities, appointments, errands – all important parts of our temporal lives. Yet the thing that often takes the biggest hit is our spiritual life.

Our personal relationships with family and friends, just like our relationship with God, hinge on repentance and forgiveness. And yet we automatically assume we will have another opportunity to say what needs to be said, ask for forgiveness, or do what needs to be done.

So, what would it mean to live today as though it were our last?

It would mean first coming before God and confessing that we are sinners in need of grace. It means dropping the garbage bag of guilt, resentment, and forgotten offenses at His feet and asking for His forgiveness. It means embracing God’s promise in 1 John 1:8-9:

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Living our days and carrying out our tasks unburdened is a work of God, not something we can manufacture for ourselves. The burden of sin is not ours to carry once Christ has carried it to the cross.

And when we see one another through the eyes of God’s forgiveness and righteousness, we begin to see one another as children of our heavenly Father. Not as categories. Not as enemies. Not as people to be dismissed because of their skin color, ethnicity, political party, beliefs or differences. We see sinners like ourselves – people who, just as we do, stand in need of the same grace offered to us through Christ.

Grace does not require us to agree with everyone. But it does require us to remember that we are not the judge, and that we, too, live only by the mercy of God.

If today were our last day, we would still have the same calling: receive God’s forgiveness, serve our neighbor, confess our sins, forgive those who have wronged us, and trust in His promises.

And perhaps that is the wisdom hidden in those anonymous words. We do not know how many days remain. We do not know which conversation will be our last, which goodbye will be final, or which ordinary task will be the last one entrusted to us.

But we do know this: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Because of that promise, today does not need to be lived in fear of tomorrow. We are free to live faithfully in the day God has placed before us.

Today is not merely another day to get through.

It is a day the Lord has given you to receive His gifts, love your neighbor, confess your sins, forgive as you have been forgiven, and rest in Christ.