Living by the Day
From Words of Cheer for Christian Pilgrims
By Theodore Cuyler, 1896
"My house was well built," said a farmer once to me, "for it was built by the day." That is the way in which the best, strongest and happiest lives are built; they are not constructed "by the job," but one attainment in grace is laid upon another, like the blocks of granite in a solid house wall. Each day brings its duty to be done, its temptation to be met and conquered, its burden to be carried, and its progress to be made heavenward. There are 365 days in every year - but really there is only one working day - and that is today. "Each day has enough trouble of its own."
This is just the sort of living that I commend to my readers. God means to shut you up to this style of thinking and planning and doing - when he makes his gracious promise, "As your day - so shall your strength be." The journey made up a high mountain, is simply a succession of steps. If the climber attempts to leap upward - he exhausts his strength; if he looks down - he grows dizzy; and if he looks too far forward - he gets discouraged by the distance yet to be surmounted. So in accomplishing each day's work - you have simply to take one step at a time, and to take that wisely is all that you need to think about.
"Don't worry about tomorrow!" God never made a Christian strong enough to stand the strain of today's duties - and all the load of tomorrow's anxieties, piled upon the top of them. The apostle Paul himself would have broken down, if he had attempted the foolish experiment. We have a right to ask our Heavenly Father for strength equal to the day - but we have no right to ask him for one extra ounce of strength beyond it! My friend, learn to take short views. If you have money enough today for your daily needs, and something for Christ's treasury, don't torment yourself with the idea that you will yet end up in the poor-house. If your children cluster around your table today, enjoy the music of their voices - train them for God and trust them to God, without racking yourself with a dread that the little ones may be carried off by scarlet fever, or the older ones may fall into bad marriages or some other disaster. Faith carries present loads, meets present battles, feeds on present promises - and commits the future to a faithful God.
So we exhort you again most earnestly to take short views. Let us not climb the high wall - until we get to it; or fight the battle - until it comes; or shed tears over sorrows which may never come, or lose the joys and the blessings, that we have by the sinful fear that God may take them away from us. We need all the grace that he can give us for today's battles. I should not penetrate into the secrets which tomorrow hides - if I could. It is far better to know Whom we trust, and that he is able to keep all that we commit to him until the last great day.
The earnest Christian who lives by the day, not only faces each duty or each trial as it comes - but he also is on the lookout for each day's opportunities for serving his Master. Almost every Christian promises himself that some time or other - he will be very holy-minded and very useful. The growing, productive Christian, is he who is on the watch for opportunities, and grasps them when they come.
The beautiful morning-glories which opened in my little garden yesterday, are all withered away. So with some precious opportunities to serve my Savior and to do good to my fellow-man - they will never bloom again. But there were fresh flowers which opened with this morning's sun; even so does our Master give us a fresh chance to serve him and to bless others every day we live.
Here lies the basic difference between profitable and unprofitable Christians. The one class are always looking for opportunities to do a kind act, to gain an influence, to win a soul to Jesus. Harlan Page made it a rule never to talk to any person even for fifteen minutes without saying something helpful to profit that person's soul.
Our days are very much what we choose to make them. The happy days are those in which we improve the golden occasions, and the most terrible specter that can haunt us is the spirit of a lost opportunity. That is what will make hell so unendurable to those who fling away Christ's loving offers and their time for repentance. With new duties come new supplies of grace every morning to those who seek it by earnest prayer. We cannot live on yesterday's meals. As the children of Israel gathered fresh manna every morning - so must we look upward for a fresh supply of heavenly rations for the day's march.
The early hour is the best for prayer and for feeding on God's word. In these times of awful stress and strain on business men, would it not clear their heads and nerve their faith if they would stop, amid the heat of the day's toil and hurry, to have a few minutes face to face with God? The secret of happy days is not in our outward circumstances - but in our own heart life. A large draught of Bible taken every morning, a throwing open of the soul's windows to the precious promises of the Master, a few words of fervent prayer, a deed or two of kindness to the first person you meet, will brighten your countenance and make your feet "like hinds' feet" for the day's march.
If you want to get your aches and your trials out of sight, bury them under your mercies. Begin every day with God, and then, keeping step with your Master, march on toward home over the roughest road, or in face of the hardest winds which blow. Live for Jesus by the day, and on every day - until you come where "the Lamb is the light thereof," and there is no night there.
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