07/12/26 No Bad Days

3:16 Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. Wait till you have a seat. So here's a question. Matt, what is your perfect day? Like just, yeah, I was asked this question not too long ago, but someone said, what's your perfect day? And I was like, what kind of day? Is it a perfect day off, perfect day of work? What's your perfect day? I think it's a really good question. What is your perfect day? Because here's why it's a good question. I think it's a good question because if I don't know my perfect day, then I don't know what a bad day is. If I don't know what I'm shooting for, if I don't know what a good day is, how can I know what a bad day is? so what's a good day like just i've just a question for every one of us to ask what would have to happen for a day to be a good day someone says have a good day great what does that mean what would it be to have no bad days that's that's kind of the question maybe what's a perfect day what's a good day but what would it be to have no bad days i think that i think that's something we could all shoot for. Like that idea of like, wait, here's my goal. Here's my goal for the rest from this day until the rest of my life, to have no bad days.

4:28 So the question would be, what does that look like if that's the goal? I think here's maybe, I could be wrong on this, but I think sometimes we imagine that once we come to Jesus and we give him what we need to give him, like we give him our whole heart, that it just keeps getting better and better. I think some, and sometimes that image comes for us from saints. Like we tell stories about saints like St. Therese of the Sioux or St. Augustine and they have this big battle in their life. And the way we tell their story is once they got past this big battle, they just started getting better and better. Like every day was a good day. They had no bad days whatsoever. Once Augustine got past this whole like, you know, chastity issue, once Therese got past her scrupulosity and her being overly sensitive, after that it was just like the sky's the limit. Nothing got in their way. And if you read the actual stories of the actual saints, you realize that is nowhere near what happened in their lives. We've just highlighted one particular struggle, one particular battle, and one particular victory, but every day for the saints, for every one of us, every day is actually a battle. And that's one of the reasons why I'm so grateful for the gospel today. I'm so grateful for the gospel because Jesus makes it very clear, this parable in Matthew chapter 13, that here's the seed that's sown. And immediately what happens, immediately the seed is challenged.

5:44 This is the great news for us. Here's the sower, right? Who's the Lord himself, who sows his grace on the world. Immediately as that seed is sown, it is challenged. Number one, the enemy comes along, steals it. Number two, you have this rocky ground. There's a persecution that happens. There's tribulation that happens and it just withers it. Number three, there's thorns that choke it. Worldly anxiety, lure of riches. Basically, Jesus is letting us know, like, okay, you have to get ready for this. You have to get ready for this. It's Sirach chapter two, verse one, which is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. My son, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trial. when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trial. And we think sometimes, we think that the fact that there's trial ruins things. And I guess, yes, in the parable, let's keep this in mind, in the parable, the trial definitely ruins some stuff. I mean, when you get choked out, you're kind of ruined.

6:39 When things get dried up, when things get stolen or fallen away, those are bad things. Because it's true, life can be so overwhelmingly difficult. This is just the reality every one of us knows. You come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trial, but sometimes life can be so difficult. I was listening to a podcast by a man named Chris Williamson, and he was talking about the very first time he ever went to a Jordan Peterson conference or event where Jordan Peterson, he will give a talk and then he'll take questions from the audience. And someone stood up, or they sent their question in, and someone in the audience asked this question. They said this, they said, the depth of my conscience causes me to suffer. this person feels things so the depth of my conscience causes me to suffer and he asked the question is it a blessing or a curse to feel everything so very deeply and chris williamson in the audience there he was like wow that's that's even just that's just one sliver of someone hurting what is this guy on stage going to say and dr peterson stopped and he thought about it and he looked out at the out at the audience and he said the only way out is through.

7:52 Then we find ourselves in place of suffering, right? The only way out is through. He said, if you take more of the thing that poisons you and turn it into a tonic, you can turn it into a tonic that girdles the world around you. when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. And oftentimes the only way out of them is through. There's so much pain in the world that the only way out is through. That's one of the reasons. We say through what? Well, through Jesus. Remember what Jesus said. He said, in this world, you will have trouble. In this world, there are the obstacles. In this world, there are the struggles. In this world, there are the battles. In this world, you will have trouble. But he went on to say, but take heart. I have overcome the world. but there's pain. It's real.

8:46 But so is he. That's one of the reasons why 1 Peter, Peter is writing in chapter 4. He says this. He says, do not be surprised at your trial by fire. He's basically, here's Peter writing to early Christians saying, who are being persecuted, they are suffering so much. He said, but don't be surprised. Don't be surprised at the fiery trial that's occurring among you as if something strange is happening to you. Don't be surprised as if this is unusual, as if this is strange, as if something strange is happening to you. Yes, it has the capacity to injure you, right? It has the capacity to steal, to fall away, to choke you out. It also has the capacity to do something more.

9:20 And this trial can injure you, but this trial can also do something powerful. 1 Peter chapter 1, he says this. He says, sometimes you're going through this trial. Why? So that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable by fire, may prove for the praise and glory and honor of the revelation of Jesus Christ. You're having a bad day.

9:46 No, actually. Actually, this is something other than a bad day. No, I want good days. I don't want rainy days. And it might sound cliche to say this, but look at the first reading, Isaiah. Isaiah says, Just as the snow and rain come down, and do not return there until they've watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, we realize that here as human beings we need bad days. As human beings we need rainy days. without raining days there are no crops without raining days there is nothing that is made fertile there's nothing that is made fruitful the trials are necessary and the trials are so necessary for us there's a comedian his name is jimmy carr at one point jimmy carr said this he said you cannot have an easy life and a good character he said this you cannot have an easy life and a great character. Trials are necessary. He said, show me a trust fund kid that inherited a bunch of money and I will show you someone who is mentally tortured. Now we might say, I'd rather be mentally tortured if I had all the money. But no, you cannot have an easy life and good character.

10:58 the trials are doing something. Peter says, don't. Don't be surprised as if something unusual is happening to you. But you have to know this. We have to be able to know that this trial, this trial is doing something to me. It's doing something to me that I need. It's doing something to me that it's making me into someone or something that I could not be, something I could not do without this. That's our perspective, right? That's the second reading today, Romans chapter 8, where St. Paul says this again. He says, I consider the sufferings of this present age as nothing compared to the glory to be revealed in us. Something happens. I'm good.

11:38 In fact, that perspective, that attitude comes from a man named Jocko Willink. Jocko Willink was a former Navy SEAL. Now he does podcasts and he also runs a couple companies. At one point, he was talking about this. He would talk about a man who worked for him when he was still with SEAL teams. as a man would pull him over or call him up and have a major problem. And Jocko would always respond with, good. And then one day this guy came to him and he said, he said he was complaining about something significant in his life, something really going wrong. And he said, you know, before you say anything, I know what you're going to say. And Jocko looked at him and says, well, what am I going to say? He said, you're going to tell me good.

12:17 When something's wrong, he said, that's always your answer. When something's going badly, you always look at me and you always say good. And Jaco said, that's right. Because when things are going bad, there's always going to be some good. And he uses an example. He says, you didn't get the new high-speed gear that we wanted? Good. You didn't get promoted? Good. More time to get better. You got unexpected problems? Good. Now you have an opportunity to figure out a solution. That attitude of being able to say, whatever happens, okay, Lord, good. Not because you're tough. I'm not tough. Not because we're SEALs, but because we trust. This is the key. We're not able to look at any kind of day, good day or bad day, and say good because we're tough. We're able to look at any kind of day, good day or a bad day, and say good because we trust.

13:10 In fact, I came across what might be my new favorite scripture. I mentioned Sirach chapter 2 verse 1. My son, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. But 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 19. it sums it up. He says this, he says, when a person can suffer injustice and endure hardships through an awareness of God's presence, this is the work of God's grace in him. Once again, when a person can suffer injustice and endure hardships through an awareness of God's presence, this is the work of God's grace in him.

13:49 Reminds me of something I came across recently, Fr. Dan Rehill. Fr. Dan is a priest, and he noted about what it is to have a good day, what it is to have a bad day. He said this, he said, you ever have a day when you wake up and you're rested and the coffee's waiting for you and your children say, good morning, mommy, good morning, daddy, and we love you so much, and you're at work and all things, you hit all the green lights and your boss is waiting for you and he's got a promotion for you and a big raise. He says, those are the days that we enjoy God's grace. He said, that's a good day. He says, but there are also days when you wake up tired and you stub your toe on the bed and there's no hot water in your shower and the coffee's bitter and you're going to get fired when you get to work and the kids are screaming at you and they hate your food and everything about you. And he says, those are the days that we endure with God's grace.

14:37 Then he pointed out something critical and this is the last thing. He pointed out the fact that, he said this, those days have more power to save souls than the days that we enjoy. What does that mean for you? He says that means there are no more good days or bad days. There are only days of grace. This is the truth for us as followers of Jesus. the truth is that those who can suffer injustice and endure hardships with an awareness of God's presence that is the work of God's grace in us that we can look at whatever is happening and say Lord good use it we can look at at the at the calamities that befall us whether they're small or if they're massive and say okay God good use it that we thank God we we praise him for his grace when the sunny skies are there and when we get all the good things we've been praying for.

15:43 God, thank you. Good. Thank you. But also when there are storm clouds and when there is devastation and when there is pain and when we've lost, when we've failed, when we're disgraced, when we're embarrassed, we can say, okay, God, good. Use this. with that kind of trust. Every day is a good day.

16:14 With that kind of perspective, from this day until the day that you and I step into...