July 21
Crossing the International Date Line is quite an experience. No, you can’t perceive any change when it happens—darkness doesn’t suddenly turn to light and there are no fireworks to commemorate the momentous occasion—but you do get a tingle up your spine in knowing you have just passed from one day to another, either gaining or losing a whole day, depending on which way you’re sailing.
In simply plodding along through life, the same thing happens every day. Morning and evening follow just as they always do. The sun comes up, and with the dawn each person on the planet has another opportunity to apply his skills and his resolve to conquering the set of challenges posed by the new day.
One of the most formidable of those challenges is that of rising above one’s self, of laying aside the things that tempt a believer to compromise his integrity in order to realize a short term goal or to bask in the warmth of a short term pleasure. No matter how committed you are to being the best version of yourself that you can be, this recurring contest is one you can’t be sure of winning.
Yet, if you lose, you have the Word of God to lean on. Though you may travel the path that leads you across the point where light becomes darkness a thousand times, each time you may claim again the promise that is given in Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed your transgressions from you.” Claim the matchless comfort of these words and sail into the light again.
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