Look to this Day!

By Yeo Su-Min

It is 2020, the beginning of another year. For many, including myself, this is a time rich with significance – it is our once-a-year opportunity to push the reset button and start anew. This year, amidst the flurry of new year resolutions, I found myself reflecting upon a choral piece I had sung last year.

The song begins with the bold proclamation that each day we are given is a sign of God’s love; it is only in His mercy that we are woken from our slumber and live to see another day. With that, instead of taking our lives for granted, we are exhorted to “look to this day”, and to “awake” and “arise” together with each coming day. 

While some might interpret this as a repackaging of the cliché to “live life to the fullest”, I think that it goes way beyond a mere call to seize the day. The notion of a daily awakening is reminiscent of Ephesians 5:14, where Paul quotes an early Christian hymn:

“Sleeper awake!
Rise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”

In this context, “awakening” means to be aroused from a state of spiritual slumber – where one is a slave to sin, and subject to its consequences – into the light of Christ. Although those of us who have accepted Christ as our Lord and savior have already been awakened, the song emphasizes that we cannot allow ourselves to fall back into slumber. Instead, it urges us to arise and live as children of the light each and every day; to live every day in higher worship, giving ourselves fully to God. This was, to me, a timely reminder that while a “spiritual reset” at the start of every new year isn’t a bad thing in itself, it is not enough to just be precious about the beginning of the year. Rather, we must look to this day, seeking to live every day for the Lord.

Food for thought: What does it mean to “live as children of the light”? (Consider Eph 5:1-20)

(Listen to the choral rendition of Look to this Day via the video below.)