“One Day at a Time”

Do you remember the gospel song, “One Day at a Time?” I love one of the lines in that song: “Lord, for my sake, teach me to take one day at a time.”

This scripture is a hard one for anyone who likes being in control of life. This scripture is also a hard row to hoe for anyone who believes that following the idols of human culture – security, personal worth, power, independence, and pleasure – is going to lead to the destination that all souls need.

This scripture also pushes some buttons with people who are living hand-to-mouth (or in modern terms, paycheck-to-paycheck).

Think about the state of worry many have about physical health – they’re always in a state of shock and angst because they can’t ever find the “magic bullet” of diet, exercise, and lifestyle that will let them live forever. And those conflicting medical studies don’t help one bit!

Think of the evidence on heart problems:

• The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
• The French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
• The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
• The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
• The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

So what does this mean? You should eat and drink what you like: speaking American English is apparently what kills you – it’s the common element between all of these studies!

Does worrying do us any good? Not according to Jesus.

There was a study of 7,000 university students that started in the 1960s at UNC-Chapel Hill to see what effect worry had on one’s lifespan. After testing, 630 students were found by the test to be clearly pessimists and 923 to be clearly optimists. The rest fell somewhere in the middle.

Over the next four decades, 476 of those who had taken the test died, from causes ranging from accident to illness to suicide to homicide.

In 2006, when the study was concluded, researchers analyzed the data and discovered that the pessimists were more likely to die sooner than the optimists.

This simply confirms what Jesus said: worrying does you no good! It will not add time to your life, and it won’t bring you any closer to being in control of things you can’t control!

What does this mean for your soul? Here’s a thought: pessimism and worry are related to a shortage of hope and trust. Pessimism has no confidence that things will work out. Worry is agitation or fear about unspecified threats or problems.

So really, this scripture is about striking a balance in our living. We should not seek control over our destiny, because it is not possible to control “tomorrow.” We also, when meeting our basic needs is a daily battle, should not become so focused on the daily struggle of existing that our worries consume us.

Jesus illustrates this by talking about the birds that do not sow or reap the fields, and flowers that do not toil or spin.

This scripture is for all of us – rich, poor, or somewhere in between. The wealthy can struggle with the temptation to arrogance, but the poor can idolize what they don’t have.

So, this scripture is for the family who has to look for loose change in the couch when they need to buy milk for the kids; this is for those who are keeping their heads above water – but are walking a tightrope from pay period to pay period. This is also for anyone who has everything he or she needs, but is driven by the desire to accumulate more and more.

Our lives are worth a lot more than the sum total of our work, our recreation, our good times, or our bad times.

The important thing is that we live in consideration of how God provides for all creation – whether we’re a bird of the air, a lily of the field, or a human being.

God’s Kingdom is our reason for being; it is the reason why we have any hope at all in our lives. So, though you might worry from time to time, or even fall into pessimism a few times… you have plenty of reasons why you can and should be optimistic about the long view of life.

It’s perfectly reasonable that you will experience worry from time to time. We worry about our kids growing up safely and well; there is nothing unnatural about being anxious about sickness or infirmity from time to time.

The important thing is that worries and anxiety should not RULE our lives. We have to keep a perspective that looks beyond these things so that we don’t lose sight of God’s Kingdom and fall into blindness.

What Jesus is saying, is, Let God form you in your faith and in the way you live. As Jesus said in another Gospel (John 16:33), “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (NIV)

Seek God’s kingdom FIRST – and STRIVE for the righteousness of the kingdom. Actively work for the spread of the Gospel.

As you do these things, you’ll find that you become more relaxed about the present (and the future), and you’ll have more trust that God will take care of you. In other words, you’ll have more hope.

Or, to put it another way: live for the Kingdom… one day at a time.

Amen.

Sources consulted:

“Add to Your Span,” Homiletics, May 2008
Ancient Commentary on Christian Scripture, Vol. NT-1a (IVP, 2001)
Boring, M. Eugene. Matthew. (In NIB Vol. VIII; Abingdon, 1995)
Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew (Eerdmans, 1992)
Wilkins, Michael J. Matthew (Zondervan, 2004)