Life's Daily Challenge Devotional

Is today the first day of the rest of your life?

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it,” John 1:4-5.

Dear seeker of life,

A famous movie recently used the line, “Stupid is as stupid does.” I’m sure that your first reaction to a statement like this is to think of some of the stupid people you know. I know that would be my first inclination. After all, who wants to admit to actually playing the fool? It might be wise, however, to let the defenses down a bit. The truth is, there are areas where all of us have made the same foolish mistakes...repeatedly. The problem is that we may not be aware that they were foolish, or even mistakes at all. You see, a foolish choice is one that consciously, or unconsciously is made independently of God’s plans and purposes. Think about it. What could be more foolish than trying to achieve success without knowing what true success is. Success is determined by design. Design can only be understood through communication with the Designer.

Deep inside you keep wishing that your life would be different. This might be subtle, or glaringly obvious. If you view yourself as unsuccessful, you long for success. If you see yourself as successful, you can’t find the ability to rest in your accomplishments. You’ve got to have more.

In either case, your rest and peace are always over the next hill, or around the next bend. No matter how successful or unsuccessful you are in the world’s eyes, there is a void within you crying out to be filled. You try to alleviate this emptiness with people, things, and achievements, but it keeps coming back. Like a huge blackhole, it refuses to be filled. That’s because this is the place where you were designed to unite with God. This is the place where Creator and creation were designed to fit together. You may choose to define life apart Him, but life “doesn’t work” apart from its source. To understand life, and truly live it, you must know its origin. God is life and all life emanates from God. Drawing your security or significance from anything other than Him is a self-imposed prison sentence of futility.

You’ve heard the saying, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” Is it really though? Today might be just like yesterday, and every other day before it. Will today actually qualify as living, or will it be one more day of striving to fill the inner void? What will you use today to fill your emptiness...family, friends, work, money, popularity or fame? What will be your source of strength and happiness? Even your most blessed gifts and treasures can be shaken and removed in an instant. What then? Does your life crumble?

Today can be the first day of really beginning to live. You can draw strength from an everlasting source. Through this connection, you can touch every person and thing around you with new life that flows from God, Himself. Conversely, you can draw your strength from the well of self-sufficiency or choose to place your expectations in things or people. The choice is yours. Your thoughts, words and actions are seeds that will determine the future that you will reap! Will it be a future that deepens or distances you from the one true source of life? Will your choices further His purpose for creating you, or will you exert your energies climbing the ladder of life, only to find that it was leaning against the wrong wall?

Making correct choices today will transform your “existence” into true living. Today, you can begin a new journey. Be advised. It will take courage. This journey is the opposite of what seems natural to you. It begins by your willingness to leave behind your ideas of what you thought true living was. It is a commitment to recognize God as the Master Architect and to submit your plans to His Spirit as Chief Builder. Through His Spirit and His Word, He will reveal the blueprint that He has just for you! You must renounce your self-confidence and ask forgiveness for everything that you have already built independently from Him.

Trying to draw your strength from anything but God, Himself, will bring temporary satisfaction, at best. Today can be the first day of breaking free from your vicious cycles of wrong thinking and living. There is no better day than today to make a new start. Let it be the first day in a lifetime of right choices. Use it wisely to deepen your intimacy with God. Decide that today will be the day that you begin a journey of breaking dependencies that flow from sources other than God. This can be painful, but it’s well worth it. The rewards and freedom this journey brings, are beyond compare. No one wants to be stupid, so decide with me that today you are not going to act that way. It’s time to face the music. Doing things the same way you have always done them and expecting different results just doesn’t make sense!