Today is the Day

Perhaps two of the devil’s favorite words to pound into us are: “yesterday” and “tomorrow”. Why?… “Yesterday” can keep us pining or regretting what we’ve done in the past; “Tomorrow” can keep us wanting what we don’t yet have or putting things off to the future. Anything to distract us from David’s wisdom: “This is the day the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24) will be fine with the devil.

Certainly there is nothing inherently wrong with either of these words or their applications. Reflecting on our past can be comforting at times; and learning from our past mistakes is without a doubt essential. And, of course, looking forward and setting goals for ourselves and our family is just as important. Like I said….the words aren’t inherently bad, but we should still be mindful that the devil loves to intervene in subtle ways. Using “yesterday” and “tomorrow” can be footholds if we aren’t attentive to where these thought processes take us.

I’ve written numerous times about the devil and on evil in general, but it never ceases to amaze me how God keeps me on my game about the gravity and seriousness of the devil’s role in my spiritual well being. The devil isn’t just an obstacle in life; his manipulations are more than just tests to either pass or fail; his affect on all of us—Christian or unsaved—is real and bears our full attention. Don’t get me wrong… I don’t believe we should give him undue attention. I’ve fallen into the trap of directing my focus more on him and his wily ways than on the blessings I’m receiving from God. Now that’s just plain wrong.

I wrote in my lyrics to “Welcome to the Real World”:

Welcome to the real world
, Where satan has the reign
A kingdom full of darkness
, His playground for our pain

If you haven’t heard the song, it really isn’t as dark as this chorus might imply; but it does reflect a reality that he’s been given dominion over the earth for a specified time within God’s plan. Again, I don’t like giving the devil a second’s worth of attention that doesn’t belong to him; but I do know his influence is real and he will do anything to distract me from my relationship with my Lord and Savior.

….Ok, I guess I kinda went off on a tangent from my opening statement so I’ll just wrap it up by saying, “This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Blessings –

Greg Morton
© October 1, 2009