January 18, 2005

“Life Is So Daily”
by Pastor George Van Alstine

I know there’s an emphasis in Christian circles on finding God’s will for your life so that you can fulfill the destiny God created you for. This is expressed in the first of the “Four Spiritual Laws” developed years ago by Campus Crusade for Christ: “God has a wonderful plan for your life . . . . ???”

All of this may be true from God’s point of view, but we live life from our point of view. And most of our spiritual choices are little ones, not big ones. As the bumper sticker puts it, “Life is so daily.”

When Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he gave them The Lord’s Prayer. This model prayer does not begin with “Help us fulfill our lifelong destiny,” but with “Give us each day our daily bread.” (Luke 11:3) The prayer goes beyond our physical needs to our spiritual struggles between “temptation” and “righteousness,” but even these more significant issues are seen in terms of daily choices to be on one path rather than another.

Matthew’s Gospel records The Lord’s Prayer as part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Later in the same sermon, Jesus emphasizes the dailyness of our spiritual journey: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew 6:34)

Paul noted, in his letter to the Corinthians, that our spiritual growth also comes in little daily pieces, rather than in great spurts: “. . . our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16)

Even though our progress seems painfully slow, it is “preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure” (verse 17).

One of the wisest principles developed by Alcoholics Anonymous is that the radical change required to deal with chemical addiction does not come in a moment of dramatic transformation. Recovery begins with a critical decision to face reality and a commitment to turn away from the old destructive lifestyle, but the initial decision must be followed by repeated smaller decisions. This insight led to the adoption of the AA slogan “One day at a time.”

That’s the way Christians need to live out their faith journey. The overall plan is in the Lord’s hands. He alone can see the end destination of the path we’re following. Trying to search out our own individual special life-plan is fruitless, and may even be misleading. We, as believers, need to learn to live: “One day at a time.”