Today Matters

Read: Psalm 118:24

“This is the day which the Lord hath made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24, KJV 1900)

Introduction:

One of the most striking passages of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:34 says,

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matthew 6:34, KJV 1900)

the NASB translates that last part to say, “each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Jesus is trying to make the point - the point that TODAY MATTERS

If we could bring Lot here tonight he would tell you TODAY MATTERS: as he and his two daughters were dragged from a smoking smoldering city that still had many of his loved ones inside - I’m sure this truth hit home to him in a powerful way.

on the 19th anniversary of 9/11 my family sat down and watched a recent documentary on the events of the day. It was just gut wrenching to watch those towers come crashing down realizing there were still hundreds of people still inside. If they were here they would tell you TODAY MATTERS

Joshua made this point himself as he looks at the people of Israel and places before them the ultimatum - “Choose you this day whom you will serve.”

David understood this truth when he penned our passage tonight - “This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” David is saying TODAY MATTERS.

“People create success in their lives by focusing on today. … today is the only time you have. It’s too late for yesterday. And you can’t depend on tomorrow.”

Dr. John Maxwell points out three problems people have when it comes to thinking about our time and days.

1. We Over Exaggerate Yesterday

don’t we have a tendency to do this?

We talk about the “glory days” and I’m sure they were wonderful - but they are gone - and now we have today.

Have you ever run on to someone who has never been able to get passed their past accomplishments?

We have to remember that “Yesterday ended last night.”

Several years ago- before my wife and I were married, she was going through a real difficult time. I didn’t know the extent of it then, but knew she was going through something tough. I went to Halo & Wings a Christian book store in Troy, and purchased a picture that hangs in our bedroom now.

On this picture is a quote from Max Lucado that I felt was relevant to her situation and to situations I have faced since then.

It said...

“There are certain weights in life you simply cannot carry. Your Lord is asking you to set them down and trust in Him.

For the sake of those you love, travel light.

For the sake of the God you serve, travel lights.

For the sake of your own joy, travel light. “

We tend to forget TODAY MATTERS that “Yesterday ended last night.”

So many people spend their “today” either repairing or preparing.

They are repairing trying to fix yesterday because they didn’t do yesterday right.

Or they are preparing for tomorrow and missing the blessings and privileges of today.

The tendency of people are to over exaggerate our yesterday, or ...

2. We Overestimate Tomorrow

Pulitzer prize-winning journalist William Allen White observed, “Multitudes of people have failed to live for today. They have spent their lives reaching for the future. What they have had within their grasp today they have missed entirely, because only the future has intrigued them . . . and the first thing they knew the future became the past.”

Hoping for a good future without investing in today is like a farmer waiting for a crop without ever planting any seed. ~ John C. Maxwell

Some of us are procrastinators. We tend to put off till tomorrow what could be and should be done today.

Think about this…if we had to do tomorrow everything we put off till tomorrow we would be in trouble.

We tend to over exaggerate yesterday, overestimate tomorrow and then we...

3. We Underestimate Today

In this day when we are supposed to have so many devices to save time, I've never seen so many hurried and restless people! If the computer, the laptop, the cellular phone, and all of these other technological wonders are supposed to save us time, why do we have so little time for the things that matter?

It seems that with all we've accomplished, about all we have really added is speed and noise. We get there faster, but we don't know where we are going. And when we get there, we're out of breath.

I read one time about a man who swallowed an egg whole. He was afraid to move because he was afraid it would break. But he was afraid to sit still because he was afraid it would hatch. There are a lot of people like that today--so frenetic, so pressured they don't know which way to go. And the place where the pressure and restless often hit home is in the home.

Adrian Rogers, Ten Secrets for a Successful Family, Crossway Books, p. 71.

Dale Witherington wrote a poem he titled,

“The Lifebuilder’s Creed.”

In part, this is what it says:

Today is the most important day of my life. Yesterday with its successes and victories, struggles and failures

is gone forever.

The past is past.

Done.

Finished.

I cannot relive it. I cannot go back and change it.

But I will learn from it and improve my Today.

Today. This moment. NOW.

It is God’s gift to me and it is all that I have.

Tomorrow with all its joys and sorrows, triumphs and troubles isn’t here yet.

Indeed, tomorrow may never come. Therefore, I will not worry about tomorrow.

Today is what God has entrusted to me.

It is all that I have. I will do my best in it.

I will demonstrate the best of me in it—

my character, giftedness, and abilities—

to my family and friends, clients and associates.

I will identify those things that are most important to do Today,

and those things I will do until they are done. And when this day is done

I will look back with satisfaction at that which I have accomplished.

Then, and only then, will I plan my tomorrow,

Looking to improve upon Today, with God’s help.

Then I shall go to sleep in peace . . . content. 6

I want to close with this thought -

How are you? Do you sometimes like I do exaggerate your yesterday, overestimate your tomorrow, while underestimating your today???

Imagine that a bank credits your account each morning with $86,400. No balance is carried over from day to day. Any balance is deleted each evening. What would you do when you knew that you would not use all your daily balance? Why, withdraw every farthing, of course!!!!!!

You have such a bank and so have I. The name of our bank is TIME.

Every day we are credited with 86,400 seconds.

Every night, that which we have not used is debited from our account.

TIME bank allows no overdraft, there is no going back for a second chance.

TIME bank does not allow borrowing from tomorrow and of course, and there are no leftovers.

The clock ticks away, never waiting for sluggards to catch up, no waiting, for what might have been, relentlessly the clock ticks and ticks.

We must invest our treasure wisely so that we obtain the best return in health, success, happiness, giving freely to those in need of God’s love, the warmth of Jesus arms, the teaching of our taskmaster, The HOLY SPIRIT.

Source Unknown

— 10,000 Sermon Illustrations

Today matters. This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.