“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!” Larry Nixon taught me to use that greeting in worship when I was a college student. When he said those words, the worship started! To this day I can hear his voice. On a recent early morning run, I turned back to the east to head home and saw the first rays of the sun. The words of the hymn came to me, “When morning gilds the skies, my heart awakening cries, ‘May Jesus Christ be praised.’”
In the first century and the twenty-first, darkness often conceals devious deeds. People break into cars and homes. Others drink themselves into a stupor. But Paul reminds us that we are not children of the darkness but children of the day. He abbreviates the armor of God he mentions in Ephesians 6, but the point is the same. We do not conceal our faith, but we wear it as armor in a dangerous world.
Often our small children in the church tell me that Jesus died for our sins. Paul expands upon this for the maturity of our faith: he also died so that we may live together with him. We live with him now as we walk in the light of day. We will live with him forever even when we fall asleep. To the Philippians Paul said, “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” Let us make Christ our life today. After all, this is the day that he has made. We must rejoice!