“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
– C.T. Studd

What’s in a day? Twenty-four quick hours, each hour made up of a thousand little moments. Sometimes the days seem to fly by, maybe when you’re engulfed in a new Netflix binge or on an extravagant vacation with family.

Other times, the days seem long. It seems like there’s nothing to do, leaving you bored out of your mind. The seconds tick by at an excruciating rate. Eventually, you just start to look for ways to kill time. You scroll through Twitter for the hundredth time or watch the latest video trending on YouTube. Anything to numb the boredom and get time to go by as quickly as possible.

Perhaps there are even days when Friday arrives after what feels like the most exhausting week of work you’ve ever had. It’s a holiday Monday and so a 3-day weekend lies ahead. If you’re like me, when you get these nice extended breaks you might tell yourself, “This first day is just going to be a ‘me’ day. I need it. I’ll play some videogames, watch a movie, and just do nothing. Then, I can make up the time by being productive the next couple of days before it’s back to work.” This seems reasonable. After all, a day of doing literally nothing can sound beautiful after an extended time of hard work at the office.

And so, the days go by. Episode by episode. Tweet by tweet. Moment by moment.

But what’s truly in a day?

I learned the answer to this question during an interaction I had with a homeless man who goes to our church. I work as a janitor, so I’ve run into the guy a few times during the week for a nice conversation. On Sundays, I’ll see him interacting with other members of the congregation and attending the service.

On Christmas Eve, I was in our sanctuary doing some clean-up from the weekend when he walked in with his bag, guitar, and an unusual confused look on his face. He greeted me with this question, “What happened?”

Needless to say, I was rather confused. “What happened to what?” I thought. But he quickly followed up with another question that cleared things up, “What happened to everybody?” I realized he was there for the Sunday services…on a Monday. After explaining this to him, he sat down in distress.

Tears began strolling down his cheek as he mumbled to himself, “How did I lose a day? A whole day. I lost a whole day.” Then he looked up at me and said, “When you get to my age, you can’t afford to miss a whole day.”

The conversation continued for a bit before he left and I went back to my cleaning duties. But I continued to think about the interaction, as I still do today a whole week later.

We can tend to lose track of how precious a single day truly is. This man taught me a valuable lesson as his eyes flooded with tears. He understood what a day meant. He understood that a day means everything, for each day could be your last.

As you embark upon the beginning of a new year, make it a priority to use your days wisely. Don’t waste your life, as John Piper would say. Remember that we can’t afford to squander even a single day. Every opportunity to gather with the Saints, every conversation in which you could preach the gospel to the lost, and every moment left free for prayer or Scripture could be your last. Love God and others well.

There is work to do for the Kingdom of God. When you rightly understand what a day is worth, it almost seems silly to spend so many hours on your cell phone or Netflix. Life is too short to simply “kill time”. Daily pick up your cross, and follow Christ. Let us each resolve, with Jonathan Edwards, “never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I can.”

So what’s in a day? Everything.

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“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
– Psalm 90:12

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