Essentially, our day becomes a twenty-four opportunity to worship our God, seeking to live a Christ-exalting life as we walk in the Spirit. We walk with Christ. He goes with us everywhere we go. The Spirit indwells us. We live in God’s world and in His presence. We are not alone today. Instead, we are loved and enjoy the presence of the Lord (Rom 8:31-38; Gal 6:16-26). We worship our God as we love Him supremely, known as the first Great Commandment, and as we love our neighbors sincerly, known as the second Great Commandment.

This morning, the day is new. We look at the day ahead and ask, “What is in a day?” What lies ahead of us this day?
None of us know. I spoke with a friend yesterday, and he had no idea the events of his day until they happened. Total surprise how his day went from one thing to another unexpectedly. Sometimes, we do know what we believe is generally going to happen, but, of course, we do not know the exact details.
Here’s the good news: regardless of who you are or where you are, we each share a series of commonalities regarding our day ahead. For the Christ-follower, this is really good news. If we take time to remember a few of these things at the beginning of our day, it really benefits us; in fact, I promise it will make your day better. Notice how the prophet Jeremiah emphasizes the benefits of remembering a few of these key ideas of “What is in a day.” He writes, “This I recall to my mind and therefore I have hope” (Lam 3:21).
Here are a few of those key realities to remember:
God’s Grace and Mercy Are New Every Morning
Our God is a covenant faithful God. He expresses his loyal love to us daily through His mercy and grace. As we get up and going today, God’s faithfulness provides us a fresh, full helping of grace and mercy – enough to last us all day! Back to Jeremiah:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,for his compassions never fail.They are new every morning;great is your faithfulness.I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;therefore I will wait for him.”
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,to the one who seeks him;it is good to wait quietlyfor the salvation of the Lord. (Lam 3:22-26)
God Loves Us and That Motivates Our Service
The loyal love that provides great mercy and grace every morning also serves us in another way. As we stop to remember God’s love, it serves to motivate us to serve Jesus Christ and others today. The Apostle Paul describes how God’s love for us through Christ, as we remember and meditate on it, begins to influence us and control how we respond to the people and pressures in our day. In reflection of God’s love through Christ to us, we determine to live for Him and not for ourselves.
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Cor 5:14-15)
We Stand Righteous in Christ, Forgiven, and Capable of Honoring the Lord
Because we have a relationship with God through Jesus, which we often called being saved, we now stand as righteous in Christ. We are forgiven of our sins and are intimately known by God. Because we are in Christ, we are no longer condemned; instead, we are now capable of honoring our wonderful Lord. Because of this possibility, we diligently seek to grow in our walk with the Lord.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. (2 Pet 1:3-7)
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:8-10)
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, (Rom 8:1)
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Our bodies may be driving us back towards the dust, but at the same time the Holy Spirit is inwardly pushing us along to glory. He will continue sanctifying us, until the final day, seemingly at our weakest, when our body succumbs to its physical death, we will behold the greatest victory! The beautiful chain of God’s work will be fashioned, and the sin that plagues our hearts will be cast off forever (Rom. 8:30). We will finally grasp freedom from the grief, pain, and loss in our sin-cursed world. And on that day we’ll be face to face with the one who also willingly walked towards weakness, so that we would be able to walk towards glory. 

My eyes catch a glimpse of the fingers slowly dancing across my keyboard. Wrinkles web across the surface, highlighting every bump and lump. They weave up towards the rounded knuckles—the ones that gripe at me from time to time. The thinning skin that’s weathered years of toil reveals blue veins beneath. I wonder if, or when, arthritis will come to stay?
I recline in my chair and slowly roll my shoulders back and forth, attempting to free the pinched nerve from the previous night’s sleep. It’s been happening more often. The sound of grinding muscles reverberates through my head, as I try to release the tightened offender.
I’m thirty-four years old, but I’m already acutely aware of the way my body is changing. It surfaces in spurts—when I wake up, crawl out of bed, and stretch only to suffer the consequences for the rest of the day. I feel these changes when I attempt a spinning ride with my children, leave a dish too spicy, or find myself unable to keep my eyes open in the evening. Things are not as they were.
Our culture tries to convince us we can all drink from the fountain of youth. Actresses in their seventies zip themselves into the latest fashion and appear on magazines and screens. They perpetuate the con that a little makeup, Botox, and a fitness regimen can keep your youthful zeal forever. Yet it’s nothing but smoke.
The graceful arms of our favorite movie icon can no longer do all they used to do. The intelligent wit of that actor has slowed, and some of their neural connections are now non-existent as memories slip from their mind. No matter how much pampering, clean eating, or willpower we commit to on this earth, our body will continue to weaken. The curse of sin demands it. Each day we wake up, our bodies walk toward death.
Pilgrimage to Dust
As much as we don’t like to admit it, we know weakness hangs in our future. We feel it with each funeral that hits our church. We see it in our grandparents and parents who force us to view the fragility of their bodies up close. We see it in ourselves. The writer in Ecclesiastes tells us no one can escape. We all go to one place: “All are from the dust, and to dust all return” (Eccles. 3:20).
We can hide, deny, or try to avoid it, but the reality remains that our entire life is one of increasing debility. We begin our lives helpless, as babies who begin to grow in strength and power. Yet with each day, our bodies begin to cycle back to the beginning, in a rhythm that releases whatever strength we accrued in this life. Our toned muscles will eventually deteriorate. Our neural connections will gradually wane.
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Any spiritual hero, whether described in Scripture, biography, or in our community, is only to be admired as he or she reflects Christ. Paul exhorted the Corinthians to imitate him, as he imitated Christ (1 Cor. 4:16, 11:1).  In 1 Thess. 1:6 we read, “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” Above all, Jesus is the one we are to follow (Matt. 4:19).  He told us so. After He washed the disciples’ feet, He said, “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:15). He is the only sinless hero. 

The best counselors are always on the lookout for new blogs, podcasts, audio lectures, booklets, and books to recommend to counselees. So much has been written and said concerning typical and even atypical counseling problems. We start with the Bible, of course, the primary resource. It points us to the divine power which “has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3).
My purpose in this blog is to suggest not only seeking biblical understanding but incorporating the stories of fellow saints when we counsel. We can begin by using biblical narratives to demonstrate godly living to be imitated (1 Cor. 10:11, Rom. 15:4). Stories of saints who have gone before us are all over the Scriptures. In addition, reading biographies of Christians from previous generations inspires us and our counseling because we see examples of their perseverance in the faith. Let’s not forget the living saints found among us. Those who are young in the faith see God at work in fellow Christians. Those who have been saved for decades appreciate reading about how other believers handled trials with fortitude. Even though we have many saints to admire, only Jesus is to be followed in all things.
Heroes in the Bible
Hebrews 12:1 asks us to picture ourselves surrounded by the saints in the Old Testament: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” The men and women mentioned in chapter 11 walked by faith without receiving “what was promised” (Heb. 11:39). The author reminds the reader that the heroes of the faith were looking ahead toward that which we experience now in the New Covenant. This knowledge helps us to run the race with endurance. The example of those who have gone before inspires our earthly walk.
These heroes were flawed, though. Some of the names are surprising. We expect to be reminded of Noah and Abraham, Sarah and Isaac, Joseph and Moses. Even though some aren’t on our shortlist of Old Testament saints, we can understand why Abel and even Enoch are included. But we might question Jacob, the trickster and manipulator. With an even more remote association with faith, we read of the children of Israel (v. 29).
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