August 22, 2026 - A Day Promised

     One of the joys of being a pastor is hearing others in the church pray from time to time.  
     Other than his family and his Bible Fellowship Class, I may have heard Larry Clevinger pray as often as anyone.
     Larry had a consistent theme for most of his prayers.  It wasn’t something that he would repeat by rote memory.  It wasn’t in any way an effort to be flowery.  Larry was never one for show for others or for himself, especially when it came to something spiritual.
     If I heard Larry pray something like this once, I heard him 100 times.  That’s not a hyperbole.
     “Lord, I thank you for this day.  It is a day with promise but it isn’t a day that is promised.”
     Looking back on it, just before saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” I should have ended his celebration day with: “Larry, this is a day with great promise and it is also a day that you were promised.”
     For those of us in Christ Jesus, every day comes with promise.  Some days we reach the potential.  Sadly, some days we fail to experience what was possible.
     We have been reminded in the last few weeks that no day is ever promised to us.  Life is fragile and we can be taken from this world in the twinkling of an eye.  
     Yet, we live in the assurance and hope that in Christ Jesus we do have a day that is promised to us.  
     Though it would have been an appropriate passage for Larry, I chose not to use Paul’s affirmation to Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:7-97 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
     Whether it is leaving this world through death or leaving this world when Jesus returns, you are promised a day, a day that will begin your life in eternity.
    I read this story this week.  When he was a young Christian Jim Hill was struggling with the grave illness of his mother-in-law.  As he drove home from work one evening, God did one of those divine downloads.  
     When he got home he grabbed a piece of cardboard and scribbled the words to a song that God gave him.  He first sang it to his very ill mother-in-law.  “What a Day” has been a song of assurance now for eight decades.
 
There is coming a day,
When no heart aches shall come,
No more clouds in the sky,
No more tears to dim the eye,
All is peace forever more,
On that happy golden shore,
What a day, glorious day that will be.
 
What a day that will be,
When my Jesus I shall see,
And I look upon His face,
The One who saved me by His grace;
When He takes me by the hand,
And leads me through the Promised Land,
What a day, glorious day that will be.
 
There’ll be no sorrow there,
No more burdens to bear,
No more sickness, no pain,
No more parting over there;
And forever I will be,
With the One who died for me,
What a day, glorious day that will be.
 
What a day that will be,
When my Jesus I shall see,
And I look upon His face,
The One who saved me by His grace;
When He takes me by the hand,
And leads me through the Promised Land,
What a day, glorious day that will be.
 
     Larry had a day promised to him.  So do you.  What a day, a glorious day.  It was for Larry.  You have the assurance that it will be for you, too.