Each day we have the opportunity to create a day to remember or one we wish to forget. We can spend our day doing things that have eternal value, such as investing time in our children and in our marriage, sharing the love and gospel of Jesus with others, celebrating life and the blessings that He has given us, or we can squander each day in pursuit of wealth or fame. Again, Jesus teaches, For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26). It is not that Jesus does not want us to plan for our future or does not want us to have nice things. Jesus simply does not want us to spend our being in pursuit of those things. He does not want us to squander the time we could be spending with our children, spouses, and friends in pursuit of personal gain that has no eternal value and cannot be taken with us when we leave this world for the next.
Each sunrise means that we have the opportunity to change how we live our daily life. We have the chance to refocus our life on what is truly important and has eternal value.
Each sunrise is an end to the previous day
This was one of the most difficult lessons for me to learn. The book of Genesis teaches us, And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day (Genesis 1:5). Each sunrise means an end to the previous day. While I am not advocating anyone to use the Jewish calendar and concept of days as practiced in the Old Testament, there is a powerful lesson we can learn from it. Sunrise marks the undisputable ending to the day and night before it. David had an interesting and profound understanding of both sunrises and sunsets; he considered them as “tokens” representing God’s grace, They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice (Psalms 65:8). Sunrises should give us reasons to rejoice – the battles we had with sin and temptation yesterday ended at sunrise. The problems of yesterday ended with the dawn of today! Again, David wrote about this very thing: For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning (Psalms 30:5). Each morning we wake up, we have new mercies from the Lord; David wrote that the Lord’s anger only endures for a moment; he understood the meaning of this verse: Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee (Deuteronomy 8:5). He understood the forgiving nature of the Lord that we, as Christians, often take for granted: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). David understood that once the Lord chastens us, and we repent of our sins, God forgives us. David understood that joy comes in the morning as we wake up with new mercies and stand in complete fellowship with the Lord.
Just as we are not supposed to squander our time seeking wealth, fame, or other fleshly pursuits with the day we have been given, we are also not to squander the gift of today worrying about the things of the past. During His earthly ministry, Jesus taught No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62b). We cannot enjoy the gift of today if we keep looking back to what happened yesterday. Yesterday was who we were; today is who we are. This is jut one of the applications of what Jesus taught: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus’ yoke does not include whatever happened in our life yesterday. Jesus used farm imagery in this because every Jewish family was required to keep a small farm or garden. The yoke was what kept a team of oxen working together as one. Jesus tells us to take his yoke – a yoke that we put on to share our burdens with Him. What a thought! We also put on that yoke not to plow the fields of yesterday. The yoke Jesus offers us to put on is for the things of today. It cannot go back and undo what has been done or to do the things we wish we had done differently. It is for today; the apostle Paul asked God to remove an infirmity or even possibly, a temptation from him. He wrote this testimony of God’s love and grace: And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:9).
The next time you have the opportunity to watch a sunrise, give thanks to the Lord. He has given you a precious gift – a token – of His love for you.
