A New Day

By: Pastor Johnie Akers  

Ephesians 1:18, “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.”  I uncovered the following story from an edition of Our Daily Bread devotional and it so blessed me, I wanted to pass it along:  A story is told of a man who loved old books.  He met an acquaintance who had just thrown away a Bible that had been stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations.  “I couldn’t read it,” the friend explained.  “Somebody named Guten-something had printed it.”  “Not Gutenberg!” the book lover exclaimed in horror.  “That Bible was one of the first books ever printed.  A copy just sold for over two million dollars!”  His friend was unimpressed.  “Mine wouldn’t have brought a dollar.  Some fellow named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it in German!”  Poor fellow, he really didn’t know what he had in his attic all those years.  My, how we overlook what we have in our possession.  First of all, we underestimate the innumerable blessings we all have in our day to day lives.  Not only blessings of material provisions, but blessings of health, family and friends.  But in a greater sense, we do not properly estimate the abundant provisions of God’s grace and mercy.  Grace is God’s undeserved favor.  Grace is God granting to us, what we have not earned or do not deserve.  God bestows His grace upon us each day.  Mercy is God withholding from us what we do deserve.  If not for God’s mercy, we would all surely perish.  But, like the man who had the priceless Gutenberg Bible in his attic for all those years, and never knew what he had, so often we take for granted and underestimate what we actually have.  Friend, never take God’s daily blessings for granted; and never take for granted His grace and mercy He has bountifully given to us.  God has given us the greatest treasure that could ever have been given—His Son, Jesus Christ, who died on a cross and shed His blood that we may have forgiveness and eternal life.  That is a priceless treasure.  I challenge you today—take inventory of what is in your possession.  You will find things most precious; and one of those priceless treasures God has blessed you with that cannot be underestimated, is the treasure of this new day. 

Source:  Our Daily Bread Ministries