Blessed Every Single Day
Scripture: Matthew 6: 9-11; 25-34
Introduction
Have you ever heard someone make the following statement: “I need to slow down” or “I feel like I am running in a rat race!”? How many times have you heard someone say that they needed to take time to smell the roses? This morning I want to encourage you to do just that, take some time to smell the roses and understand just how blessed you really are today. I have come to realize that I spend more time looking at the roses than smelling them. You see, I can look at the roses while I am continuing on my way; but in order to “smell” the roses I must stop and actually get close enough to them to smell them. Unless you are walking around in a flower shop full of roses, you cannot smell the roses unless you get up close to them. Like wise, unless you are carefully taking the time to see and experience your blessings, you will receive them and never fully appreciate them and never fully appreciating the One who gave them to you. We are so busy planning for that next thing that we fail to enjoy the here and now and then one day we wake up and our lives have passed us by.
This is the point of my message to you today. I want to encourage you to take time to enjoy your blessings (smelling the roses) on a daily basis. God is constantly working in our midst but we fail to acknowledge Him and we miss the daily things that He does because we are so future focus. Let me give you a few examples so you can understand that what we miss and fail to acknowledge, others would cherish. Here is a short list of daily blessings that get overlooked:
• Paying a bill on time. If you have days when you can pay your bills on time that is a blessing. There are many people who struggle daily to accomplish that.
• Getting over a simple cold or other sickness. If you get a cold and your body recovers, that is a blessing. There are many individuals whose immune system is so weak that a simple cold could kill them.
• A child gives you a hug and a kiss. Children give their hugs and kisses without ulterior motives. Enough said.
• You can tell your parents you love them. You know how many of us who do not have both parents living? That is a blessing.
• Telling your child you love them. Enough said.
• Being able to smell fresh brewed coffee in the morning – and I do not drink a lot of coffee but I know how important this is for some of you.
• Seeing the sun rise and set.
We spend so much time looking, planning, dreaming and talking about the future that we do not recognize what we have here in the present. If you remember nothing else, no matter how old you are, today is the first day of the rest of your life – be blessed!
I. Give Us our Daily Bread
If you are wondering whether or not it is God’s will for us to enjoy the moment let me assure you that it is. When Jesus began to teach His disciples, one of the lessons He taught them was how to pray. In that lesson, He shared with them a prayer that was acceptable to God. This prayer is known today as The Lord’s Prayer. As you read through that prayer in Matthew chapter six, look at what the prayer asks for in verse eleven: “Give us this day, our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11)
In verse eleven Jesus says “Gives us this day, our daily bread.” Notice Jesus did not ask for bread for tomorrow or for next month, He asked for that day. What Jesus was sharing with the disciples was the need to focus on the present day and the needs of that day. I am not saying that it is wrong to plan ahead for God knows I do a lot of planning, but our planning should not hinder us for recognizing what is happening in our lives right now. I know that being in the here and now can be difficult at times, especially if I am sitting in a meeting, but it is crucial to recognizing God’s daily activity in your life. Let me share an example with you. As many of you know, I travel a lot for my job, often driving 3-4 hours to get to my destinations. There have been many times when I arrived at my destination without remembering all of the specifics of the trip. In case you’re wondering, no, I did not blank out and suddenly arrived at my destination without knowing how I got there. I often listen to music or just talk to God while I am driving and thus my driving becomes almost “automatic.” I do not notice all of the city signs or landmarks that I would normally remember passing nor do I pay attention to all of my surroundings. I know the route so well that a lot of the small, simple details get over looked. This also happens in our spiritual lives as we focus more on tomorrow’s achievements and milestones than what is happening around us today. How many times have we missed our turns on the highway because we were to busy doing other things (talking on the phone, listening to music, etc)? How many times have we missed God’s blessings because we were focused on the “big one” that we really, really want and are waiting on? Consider the following lesson that Jesus also taught in Matthew chapter six.
II. Do Not Be Anxious For Tomorrow
After Jesus completed the lesson on prayer, He transitioned to a lesson on worrying as found in verses 25 through 34. How many of you have ever worried about something – like what you will eat tomorrow or what clothes you might put on for that special occasion? You know, worrying about the simple and the complex “stuff.” In this lesson Jesus starts by giving us a comparison. He talks about the birds of the air and how they do not sow, reap or gather into barns (as we do) which would ensure they would have something to eat. They do not worry about food for they know God is going to take care of them. Based on this analogy, Jesus asks why we worry about these things. He states that we cannot change anything in our life span by worrying. Whether we are worrying about food or clothes, just as God takes care of the birds of the air and the flowers of the earth, Jesus stresses that He will likewise take care of us. It is walking in this knowledge on a daily basis that allows us to be aware of the “little things” called blessings that God provides when we are focusing on something else. After explaining how God will take care of us, Jesus made the following declaration: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:33-34
Jesus said that we should seek the Kingdom of God FIRST and “then” all those “things” would be added to us. What “things”? All of those “needs” that we continue to stress about. All of those “big blessings” that we keep hoping and never realizing the ones we already have today. Do you really understand what Jesus meant in these verses? Whatever is going on in your life, seek the Kingdom of God first. Looking for that big promotion, seek the Kingdom first. Don’t know what to do about your children (or your parents), seek the Kingdom first. Money problems, seek the Kingdom. Relationship problems, seek the Kingdom. Anger problems, seek the Kingdom. Unforgiveness issues, seek the Kingdom. No matter what you are doing in life, seek God’s Kingdom first. Why? Because Jesus promised that if we seek the Kingdom of God first, all of those other things that we need will be given to us. All of those things that we worry about will be handled. God is able to provide whatever it is that we need. We often fail to recognize that what God is trying to provide for us we are daily trying to get it on our own. How many times have you stressed about something only to turn it over to god and see it worked out perfectly. At that moment you could give God the praise. This happens with all of us daily but we just do not recognize it because we are not actively seeking the Kingdom FIRST. Let me put it like this, lets say you brought your child a car and parked it in the driveway. All the child has to do is ask for the keys whenever they need the car. But instead of asking for the keys, the child calls a friend or taxi to take them wherever they need to go. It is not that they do not know the car is their’s, they are just used to getting a friend or another means of transportation to take them where they want to go. Sounds totally stupid? In this example I would agree for no child that I know of would ever fail to drive their own car when they get the chance. But spiritually, we do this to God daily. Can’t you see God just shaking His head sometimes in how we go about our daily lives excluding Him or denying what He is doing for us? Spiritually we do exactly what that child does when they choose to obtain another means of transportation versus just asking for the car keys. Some of us right now are seeking something that God is already willing to give us – if He can just get us to move out of His way. We are seeking something we want versus seeking the Kingdom and receiving what God is ready to provide.
Why is seeking the Kingdom important? Because when you seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first, everything that you need, or would generally worry about, will be taken care of for you. When you know those things are being taken care of, we can spend our time on other things such as praise, worship, giving thanks and recognizing our daily blessings. How many of you continue to worry about something after you have been told that everything was okay? This is the state that we should be able to walk in because God says all things will work to our good. That does not mean that we will always get what we want, but things will always work out. I said this before, it is easy to rejoice and praise God when we are not focusing on everything missing in our lives.
In the last verse, Jesus said that we should not worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will take care of itself. He also said that every day has enough troubles of its own so why spend time worrying today about things of tomorrow. Remember this, when we are worrying about tomorrow, we miss the blessings of today. When we begin to understand that seeking God’s Kingdom first leads us into a life where our expectations are that God will meet our needs, we begin to actively look for the blessings versus being surprised when they appear. We should not ever be surprised when God blesses us, we should be expecting them. But understand, because we expect the blessings, we do not take them for granted. Our blessings are to equip us to be able to fulfill our daily role in His Kingdom, not to sit back and say I am blessed so I am better than you. The two biggest slaps in the face to God is first when we do not recognize the blessing and second when we recognize the blessing and are not grateful for them. I want us to be mindful of the first in this message because I believe once we consistently recognize when we are being blessed (everyday) we will be grateful because many of us do not think we are blessed. Once we get used to the idea that we are receiving blessings daily, then we can deal with ensuring we are always grateful.
Conclusion
I want to close by going encouraging you to look at, ponder over and accept all of the blessings you receive each day. You do not have to wait for that one big one to know that you are being blessed. I want each of you under the sound of my voice, or for those of you reading this, to take a moment and think about the following:
• When was the last time you did not plan what you will be doing tomorrow?
• When was the last time you went through a whole day not feeling that you got anything accomplished because you had so much on your list of things to do?
• When was the last time you admired something that God created – a sun set, full moon, fresh fallen snow?
• When was the last time you thanked God for the little things – a kiss, a hug from a child, good grades, etc?
• When was the last time you looked at your spouse, kids, parents, friends, etc and said “Lord I thank You for I am blessed.”?
• When was the last time you thanked God for your job that gets on your nerves or the car that is on its last leg but continues to get you where you need to be?
• When was the last time you held someone’s hand just to let them know it was going to be okay?
All of these things represent the “little things” that we tend to miss in our search of the “big picture” or the next blessing or victory. We operate our lives as if we are in a sports tournament. We can’t enjoy each victory because we know we have another game to play. So we wait and enjoy the victories only if we make it to the finals and win the championships. Many sports teams walk off the field or courts with their heads hung low thinking about what was just lost. They may have won all of the other games, but the one that mattered most (to them) escaped them so the other victories were meaningless. Do you think those teams who had winning seasons, made it to the playoffs but are not playing in the Super Bowl today are feeling victorious? If you are living your life like this, it is time to change. Every blessing in your life counts. Every victory in your life counts. Every accomplishment for God, small or great, counts. Everything that God is doing for you, regardless of what is going on in someone else’s home, is important.
I plead with you today, wherever you are, to begin to rejoice in your blessings daily. May God blessings be your and may you recognize them is my desire.
