Daily Devotions for Thursday, July 23, 2026: The Pages That Remain

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The Daily Devotional

Thursday, July 23, 2026

The Pages That Remain

“I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.” — 2 Timothy 4:7

Reflection

There comes a season in life when we begin to think differently about time. In younger years, we often look ahead to beginnings: the next career, the next journey, the next dream, the next opportunity. But as the years pass, another question quietly emerges: How will I finish what God has placed before me?

The apostle Paul, nearing the end of his earthly life, could look back and say, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.” He did not say that his life had been easy. It had not been. He had suffered imprisonment, rejection, beatings, hardship, loneliness, and uncertainty. Nor did he claim to have lived a flawless life. Paul knew better than anyone the mercy of Christ that had rescued and transformed him. His testimony was simply that, through it all, he had kept going with Jesus.

On July 23, 1885, Ulysses S. Grant died at Mount McGregor, New York, shortly after completing his memoirs. He had endured financial ruin following the collapse of Grant & Ward, and with his health rapidly failing, he worked to finish the manuscript partly to provide financial security for his family. He did not know precisely how many pages remained in his earthly story, but he knew there was still something before him that needed to be finished.

That history causes me to reflect on my own life.

Unlike Grant, I am not facing financial ruin. In fact, my wife and I are comfortable financially in our senior years. We are not wealthy by worldly standards, but God has provided for us, and I am grateful.

When I look back, I see a long and varied journey. I have been a soldier and a sailor, a backyard mechanic and a worker on sophisticated aircraft. I helped maintain the National Airspace System for the Federal Aviation Administration, even though I have never particularly enjoyed flying myself. I have driven trucks and captained riverboats. For years I wrote short stories and Christian devotionals, and now I have authored sixteen books.

I have also known sorrow.

I lost two spouses only eight years apart. There are griefs in life that no accomplishment can erase and no success can compensate for. Some chapters are written through tears.

And now, in my senior years, I live with chronic pain. There are days when I ask the question that suffering so often brings to the human heart: Why? What did I do to deserve this?

The book of Job warns us against easy answers. Job's friends assumed that terrible suffering must mean terrible wrongdoing, but they were wrong. The mystery of suffering is not always explained to us. Pain is not necessarily evidence of punishment, and faithfulness does not guarantee a life free from hardship. Sometimes we never learn why a particular burden was placed upon our shoulders.

But we can still decide whom we will trust while carrying it.

Having captained riverboats, I know that bringing a vessel safely to its destination requires attention all the way to the end. A captain does not stop caring because most of the voyage is already behind him. The final miles still matter. The current may change. The water may narrow. The approach to the landing may demand patience and care. The journey is not finished until the vessel reaches its destination.

So it is with life.

The final part of a journey is not insignificant merely because much of the journey is already behind us. Sometimes the final miles, final pages, final decisions, and final acts of faithfulness reveal what the entire journey has been preparing us to become.

None of us controls the number of pages remaining in our earthly story. I do not know how many remain in mine. Neither do you. But by God's grace, we can decide how we will live them.

Perhaps there is someone we need to forgive while there is still time. Perhaps there are words we need to say: “I love you.” “I'm sorry.” “I forgive you.” “Thank you.” Perhaps there is a testimony that needs to be shared, a neglected task to be completed, a broken relationship to be approached with humility, or someone younger who needs the encouragement that only our years of experience can give.

And perhaps faithfulness today means something as simple and profound as trusting Jesus for one more day.

Of everything I have done, every uniform I have worn, every machine I have repaired, every ship I have captained, every mile I have traveled, and every book I have written, I can say this without hesitation:

Allowing Jesus Christ to take control of my life was the best thing I ever did.

That is the testimony I most want to leave behind.

A faithful life is not a flawless life. I have chapters I wish had been different. I have known mistakes, losses, regrets, pain, and sorrow. Most of us have pages we would gladly rewrite if given the opportunity. But the grace of Jesus Christ is greater than our unfinishedness.

We can place the whole story into his hands: the chapters of joy and the chapters of grief, the pages stained with tears, the accomplishments for which we are grateful, the failures we have confessed, the suffering we still do not understand, and the pages yet unwritten.

We do not know how many pages remain, but we can ask for the grace to make them faithful. And when the final sentence is written, we can place the whole story into the hands of the One who redeemed us, sustained us, forgave us, and never stopped writing grace into our lives.

Prayer

Gracious and merciful God, we thank you for every page of life you have given us—the joyful ones, the painful ones, the chapters we treasure, and even those we still struggle to understand. Be especially near to those who are growing older, living with chronic pain, grieving deep losses, carrying regrets, or wondering how many days remain. Give us grace to finish faithfully, courage to make peace where peace is needed, humility to repent, strength to forgive, love to encourage others, and perseverance when the road becomes difficult. Teach us not to measure our lives merely by accomplishments, possessions, or earthly success, but by faithfulness to Jesus Christ, who has loved us through every chapter. Help us to trust you with the pages already written and with those still to come, knowing that when our earthly story is complete, we may place it wholly into your merciful and faithful hands. Amen.

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Devotional by: Kenny Sallee, ThM — Deming, NM, USA

The Bible texts are from the World English Bible (WEB), which is a Public Domain Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version (ASV) of the Holy Bible, first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament. It is in draft form and is currently being edited for accuracy and readability. All rights reserved.