Let us walk wisely in the days we’ve been given and despite the trials we’ve been gifted. William Gurnall wrote, “The saint’s sleeping time is Satan’s tempting time.” How will we use these God-given days?…Let’s look carefully how we walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time.

Carpe Diem!

Catch the day! Pluck the day! Harvest the day! Seize the day! All of these are translations of Carpe Diem. This was the line for which the Roman poet Horace would be most known. The full line, translated, is, “Pluck the day, trusting as little as possible in the next one.” Horace, dipping his fingers in the soil of Hedonism, believed in finding joy and pleasure in the present, for the present is quickly passing us by, and the future is uncertain. The line is a call to be intentional about the day concerning both our labors and our pleasures. Horace’s wisdom isn’t far off the mark, but it does require some fine-tuning. True enough, we must consider the moment, live in the present, and focus on today. Joyfully, however, the future is not uncertain, but shall unfold exactly as divinely decreed.

In the meantime, maximizing the day remains essential. But what is to be our reason? The evil of the days, not the fleeting nature of the days (as true as it is that the days fleet fast). Sin fills the days if we’re caught folly-footed, without the daily pursuit of seeking God’s Kingdom. There’s enough trouble in a single day to occupy our thoughts and actions. Since the evil days are the reason, what is to be the motive? Not so much “what” but “who.”

Who caught the day the best? Who plucked it? Who harvested it? Who seized it? It was the Son of God, who has the Spirit without measure, who lived to redeem evil days. Here was the Son of Man, who lived on earth just a third of what many will live. But it is not length of days that matters most but how the days are spent. John Flavel wrote, “He has lived long enough upon earth who has won heaven, be his days ever so few.” And what shall we say of the God-Man who brought heaven, namely himself, to earth? Let’s trace his steps, as sheep of the Good Shepherd, and we will be sure to walk wisely. Walking in step with the Spirited Son, we redeem the day by walking with care and wisdom (Ephesians 5:15-17).

The Son’s Early Days

Let’s look carefully how we walk by considering the Son’s walk. It was Irenaeus who said that Jesus must’ve lived into his 50s, so he could be our example for and to sanctify every phase of life: infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Granted, Irenaeus was off by about two decades, but his motive was on target. If we desire to walk with wisdom and care, at every point in our lives, we must walk the walk of the Good Shepherd, consider the gait of our God, following the manner of our Messiah.

The Son, born of woman, under the law, walked lawfully. He was our law-abiding citizen. Every firstborn male, who opens the womb of his mother, is to be holy to the Lord. Jesus, the one eternally at the bosom of the Father, subjected himself holy to the Lord. Joseph and Mary, holding Leviticus in their hearts, handed their son over to their Lord. The priest Simeon, with the Spirit upon him, took the Son of God into his arms, and rejoiced in his and Israel’s coming peace from the face of light and glory looking up at him. The Christ, our Circumcision, had been circumcised under the law, and the laws of purification were observed, so that one day we would be purified by the Son’s Spirit (Luke 2:22-28).

As the infant son grew up in his father Joseph’s house, he remained fully committed to following his heavenly Father. Do you remember the 12-year-old Jesus? As Joseph led his family from Jerusalem back to Nazareth, the child who grew strong and was filled with wisdom, with his Father’s favor resting upon him, had hung back. The Passover Feast was over, but the Son’s time with his Father in Heaven was not. Three days away from Mom and Dad meant great distress of the heart for them, but for the Son these days were full of worship, and God-glorifying growth in talking with the teachers. Why, he wondered, would his parents not know exactly where he’d be? The Son must always be about his Father’s business. The meek Messiah grew in wisdom (Luke 2:39ff).

We ought to walk lawfully, always committed to our Father’s house. We for whom the law was fulfilled seek to hide God’s wisdom in our hearts to not sin against God. We discern what the will of the Lord is by renewing our mind daily with his pure wisdom. We who’ve been washed by the Spirit keep in step with the Spirit in our daily walk. As we wake up each morning, we wash ourselves with the water of the Word. These were the Son’s early days, which guide us all our days.

The Son’s Middle Days

As we age, life grows more challenging, more trialsome. How should we live? The Son’s situation was similar. The noon-day heat of his trials was found in his adulthood. From the days of his ministry, there was, no doubt, a mid-life crisis. I don’t mean the kind of mid-life crisis experienced by unstable men these days. I mean the crisis of trial in the middle of his ministry, the kind that others sought to take advantage of to drive him off the paths of righteousness that he would later walk us through.

As the Son’s ministry emerged from the waters of baptism, how was his time spent? Did he make the best use of his time? The evil days were lurking behind the tumbleweeds of the desert. No sooner does the Son hear from his Father, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” than is he driven off to hear the voice of another, that of the Tempter, the Devil (Matthew 4). Led up into the wilderness by the same Spirit who had rested upon him, Jesus fasted.

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