In 1986, we stood in front of our pastor and pledged to love one another until in death do we part.  Over time (38 years), when others have asked me about marriage, I respond:

“It’s been the best year of my life.”

The end of this school year (2025) denotes my thirtieth year of teaching, and as that number (30) resonates in my being, it has become fascinating to me how thirty years lead me to say:

“It’s been the best day of my life.”

• One year could be one filled with undue heaviness and make a person feel as if he has walked through ONE LONG DAY within that long year.
• One month could be one filled with unfathomable trials and cause a person to sense as if he has endured ONE LONG DAY within that one month.
• One moment could be one filled with unexpected worry requiring a person to live as if he has traversed ONE LONG DAY within that one moment.

In studying the Old Testament in the Bible, within the Old Covenant of God, I found myself reading about the challenge given to the children of Israel by the LORD.  This account is found within part of the Torah, in the book of Deuteronomy.  As I began to study about the Jewish Holy Days, reading about the feast days that led to Passover and about the Jewish New Year and also about the Day of Atonement, the Word of God spoke loud and clear.

IT IS NECESSARY FOR GOD’S CHOSEN ONES TO LIVE IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE WORLD SEES THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD—JESUS!

God called His people “chosen,” and truly they must have wondered:  Chosen for what?  We would have asked the same question, no doubt.

• Time within a year can pass by, creating it easy to see the change of seasons.
• Time within a month can pass by, causing one to see the quickness of time marching forward.
• Time within a single day can pass by, making it necessary to see the importance of opportunities lost.

The Bible speaks of how a full month of days was required for the Israelites to prepare themselves.  In allowing them the gift of time, the children of God were given the opportunity to lay the groundwork for real and lasting change.  They had time:

• To Connect with God.
• To Nourish their Souls.
• To make Spiritual changes that would last.
• To prepare for the New Year, leading to the Day of Atonement 30-days-later.

Even today, within the New Testament in the Bible, within the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, God’s children are not ignorant to the fact that this groundwork, this change was only possible from “having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

• The LORD gives each one of His children the gift of time ETERNAL.
• The HOLY SPIRIT leads us to walk in faith to JESUS, who has saved us & redeemed us for an ETERNITY of TIME!

“let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, . . .”

TRUE GROWTH IN ONE’S CHRISTIAN WALK HAPPENS OVER TIME!

IT IS A GRADUAL PROCESS!

• We who Believe in Jesus are walking through our days, on our way to Eternity with Christ.
• We who have Accepted Christ’s free gift of salvation are on an earthly journey, walking toward our Eternal Home.
• We who continually Confess our sins to our Savior Jesus Christ are to become more holy as Each Day Passes.

The Greatest Evidence that a person knows God and has been Redeemed is a Life Changed—One Day At A Time!

This requires a daily dying to oneself as he takes up the cross of Jesus Christ.

LORD,

Help us be cognizant of our passing days. Lead us to be testifiers of YOU.  Forgive us for failing to live in a new and living way. Father, hear our prayer today & draw us closer to YOU, TODAY.