Think You've Had a Bad Day?

Is this a bad day?

If so, I've had a few. How about when your kids spill Kool-Aid on the carpet, or put a ball through the flat screen TV? Are those bad days? Trouble at work. Trouble at home. Traffic. Cut yourself shaving. Does a morning with bitter coffee, or worse, no coffee, a bad day make?


Bad is a relative term. The word only has meaning in context or comparison. For example, a car wreck is bad when compared to a safe drive home. But a fender-bender is not bad compared to totaling your ride. See? Context and comparison.

How bad was your day, really?

This is dangerous territory, because I don't know your context, and my comparisons may not apply to you. I do believe, however, that we can all agree that we need not look far to find someone who has had a worse day than we have. I've worked in healthcare for 20 years, and I've seen a lot of people who've had some really bad days. Life changing days. In some cases, life ending days. Suddenly, a bad cup of coffee doesn't seem like such a big deal.


Look around. Watch the news, or read the newspaper. People are going through some really, truly, awful experiences every single day. Most of us don't have to look that far. The neighbor with cancer. The co-worker going through a divorce. The friend who lost his job. Bad things, really bad things, happen all around us, yet we let an argument with our spouse ruin our day.

The only bad day is one without Christ.

War. Catastrophic storms. Earthquakes. Famine. Disease. Destruction and misery affect people every day. Even then, nothing is as bad as it could be, as it would be, without Christ. Want to know the definition of a bad day? Facing those calamities without having God in your corner. Dying without the saving grace of Jesus Christ. That's a bad day. That's the worst day that could ever be.

If you have Christ, nothing else compares. Paul says it this way in Romans 8:18, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us. Your worst day means nothing compared to your eternal future. Put that in your pocket and pull it out when things get tough. It puts this life in perspective.

With God, every day is a good day.

Psalm 118:24 says, This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Today is the day the Lord has made. Rejoice, and be glad.

At the end of the day, if you've got Christ, that's all that matters.