[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Friday, January 3, 2013

[Paul]

Hello and good day to all of you on this Friday or Saturday, depending on where in this world you happen to reside.  I hope that everything is going well in your corner of Planet Earth, by God's matchless grace and His providential care.

This will probably be the last article we have on the subject of the new year.  Some have told me privately that these daily thought articles are too long, and so I'm trying to find some that don't go on forever and ever.  Believe me, if you were to see some of the articles posted on two forums found on SAMNET, the System Access Mobile Network, you'd think the contributions I post are minuscule compared to those.  However, occasionally some of the contributions that I find are not only a little long, but interesting as well.

So today we have another article by the late Dr. Ralph Montanus (1919-1986) entitled "Stepping Into A Brand-new Year," rendered as follows:

Can you believe that another year has come and gone! We now stand on the threshold of a brand-new year, and there is no way we can predict the happiness of the days, weeks and months that lie before us.

There is a way, however, that we can greet each day of the new year which can revolutionize our service for God.  The Psalmist has given us the secret.

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24).

Can you just imagine how the man or woman of God will make an impact for Christ if this text is taken to heart and manifested day by day through each individual life?

There are several secrets found in this text.  The first one has to do with the present.  There is absolutely nothing we can do to rectify the past.  All the days, weeks and months of last year are gone, and gone forever.  As for the future, it has not arrived as yet.  Each day, we stand between two eternities--we can live only in the present, one day at a time.

A famous cereal company uses a motto that makes good sense.  "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." The Lord Jesus taught us the importance of living just one day at a time in His famous Sermon on the Mount, when He said:

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow:  for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.  Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Matthew 6:34).

Even in the magnificent prayer that Jesus has given us, the thought of one day at a time is brought out when we petition, "Give us this day our daily bread." We are not to pray about yesterday's bread, for that has been eaten, or is stale and moldy.  As for tomorrow's bread, that hasn't even been baked yet.  Jesus tells us to ask for this day's bread.

There are many illustrations throughout the Bible regarding today and what we are to do with this present day.  Not only is it important to live just one day at a time, but to know how to live that one day at a time is even more important.  How one greets each day can have a tremendous effect on his emotional and mental health.  Scientists tell us (and we know it is true) that our emotional and mental attitudes can make all the differences between being healthy or ill.  There is something about a merry heart that produces a sense of physical well-being.  Therefore, the Psalmist is not just glibly saying, "This is the day which the Lord hath made," but he is perfectly cognizant of the reality of that statement.  This is truly the day which the Lord hath made.  Man hasn't made it--God has! This very thought should trigger in the emotional area of our lives a response of rejoicing and being glad.

Dear Christian, can you not see that the way you meet and greet the day will make all the difference in how that day progresses and how it finally concludes? If there is one thing above and beyond everything else that the day should produce in the heart and life of the child of God, it is a tremendous sense of rejoicing, and an attitude of gladness.

You remember that one of the great salutations of our Lord was, "Be of good cheer." To be of good cheer is in complete harmony with a rejoicing spirit that manifests gladness.  There is no way that we can rejoice and be mean or ugly at the same time.  All the negative emotions such as resentment, hatred, jealousy, and malice have a severe negative response that can lead to so many psychosomatic illnesses.  Ah, but the man or woman of God who greets each day in a very positive way will find themselves feeling better, looking better, and acting better.

Our actions are always manifested by our feelings.  Thus, one who feels miserable looks miserable and acts miserable.  On the other hand, one who feels good looks well and acts well.  So, I think, by God's grace, it would be well for all of us to memorize Psalm 118:24 until it sinks deeply into our hearts and becomes a part of our daily consciousness.

Then, every single day of this year will be meaningful and productive in the service of our blessed Lord, and I will not need to wish you a Happy New Year because you will most certainly have a very blessed one.  It will be yours by simply putting into effect the 118th Psalm, verse 24, every single day throughout the year.  By the time we reach another Christmas, if you will, faithfully and constantly, so live day by day, you will be able to look back upon a very useful, productive, and happy year that was spent in the service of our precious Lord.

And there you have this quite insightful article by the late Dr. Ralph Montanus.  I'm sure that over the years from 1947 when, with God's help, he and others founded the Gospel Association for the Blind and its house organ "The Gospel Messenger," that there were articles that were penned by him that I don't have access to.  However, I have what I have and am only too glad to share them with you.  I pray that this article was a blessing to you.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Lord willing, tomorrow I hope to find for you another daily thought message.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul