Day by Day
“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:46, 47).
Do we think of our faith only as an expression of worship given on Sunday and maybe again on Wednesday night? The life of the disciple is constant and knows no boundary.
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
Both verses speak to everyday life. We do not deny ourselves only on the Lord’s Day, nor do we take up our cross only at 10 AM on Sunday. We serve him Christ daily. Both verses, from the mouth of Jesus himself, call for personal denial. That is, we daily reject our own desires while replacing them with the desire for Jesus. The pre-Christian man no longer exists. He has been replaced by one who displays Christ in every moment of life.
The words of the apostle Paul speak plainly:
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
It is common to create compartments in our lives. There is one compartment for family and home, one for work, one for play and recreation and probably one for faith. An observer could easily watch and list the differences between each compartment. For example, the words of love and kindness we express for our family in a worship setting may be replaced by harsh and unforgiving words in the home. The ethics that we extol to our children and that we praise in Bible class are suddenly missing in our business life. The compartmentalization of life is catastrophic to our faith.
How rare it is to find a man who reflects his faith constantly and in every situation. More often, we adjust our faith to fit the moment. Our beliefs are conformed to the moment instead of the other way around (Romans 12:2).
A respected man in the church once began to sell items contrary to the faith in a retail store he owned. Another man, also very respected, served a company that manufactured godless products that destroyed homes. In both cases, the men defended their dissociative lives by arguing that their decisions were for work, not church. How sad.
Let us break down the walls that define our lives. Let the Holy Spirit who dwells in us (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16), Christ who dwells in us (Ephesians 3:17) and the Father who dwells in us (Ephesians 2:22) permeate our lives until we are saturated with his love and with his way of life. Leave no corner of your life sealed from him. Open not only your heart but your day to Jesus. As he fills your life at work, at home and at play, he will be glorified through you. Day by day, let us serve him!