"A Routine Day?"

“A ‘Routine’ Day?”

England’s King George III is said to have kept a diary throughout his life. For one day he wrote, “Nothing significant happened today.” The date? July 4, 1776. What was a “routine” day in London was anything but 3600 miles southwest in Philadelphia. And it proved to be one of the most important days in world history.

For several years I kept a journal of my reflections and activities, some of which found their way into church bulletins and newsletters as “Pastoral Ponderings.” I recall beginning one day’s entry with “Yesterday was a pretty routine day.” I stopped, reread what I had just put on paper, and became convicted. Is there any such thing as a “routine” day in God’s eyes?

Psalm 118:24 states, “This is the day the Lord has made….” So each day is a gift from Him, as is every other good thing we receive (“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights….”—James 1:17, NASB). The psalmist must have realized this as well as the significance of his thought when he continued, “…let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Do I see each day as God’s gift to me and a cause for rejoicing? And since “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:16) how can any one of them be routine? Doesn’t God expect us to use them well by “…making the most of every opportunity….” (Ephesians 5:16)?

God rather graphically taught Peter something of the same principle in Acts 10. In a vision he saw many kinds of unclean animals and was told to eat them. When he objected God said, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15). Understanding this truth (and it took the Lord three tries to penetrate Peter’s mind!) changed not just his attitude but his ministry. In parallel God may be saying to us, “Do not call any day I have made ‘routine’!”

The dictionary defines routine as “not special, ordinary”. Could anything our Sovereign, Omnipotent God does or makes (including each of us) be “not special” or “ordinary”? May we never see any day as insignificant but as an opportunity for enjoyment, ministry, and fellowship with Him.

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan