Renewal

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18).

I missed writing last week.  I had substitute teacher assignments for three days in each of the past two weeks. I was tired.  I retired because teaching is tiring and age seems to have a way of making fatigue come sooner than it used to.  These physical bodies are “wasting away.” They wrinkle and sag and the stamina weakens.  Sometime last week I heard those verses from 2 Corinthians and thought, “How true!”

I can’t do all the things I used to do, at least, not at the same pace. I don’t like to spend much time thinking about getting old so I forge ahead until my body says, “Wait a minute! You need a rest!”  God created Adam and Eve to live forever but sin changed that and now our bodies wear out. They are not eternal, but the soul is eternal. Based on this truth we should be paying more attention to our souls  than the outer or physical person.  This is not to say we shouldn’t care for our bodies. Certainly, eat your vegetables and get your rest. Live for God and serve others as long as you can.

Our souls need nourishment and daily renewal by the Spirit’s power. The Apostle Paul explained earlier in chapter 4 that because of God’s mercy and grace to him he was given power to keep preaching the gospel even through the tough times. Paul compared the physical body to a jar of clay.  The treasure of Christ lives in fragile bodies and His light shines to the world through no power of our own, only by God’s power.  Inwardly, we are constantly being renewed, while outwardly we fall apart.

I just spent a weekend with friends who had attended Eastern Christian College. For most of us at the reunion it has been 20 to 50 years since we were college students.  Our bodies don’t look the same but what shines through now is beautiful maturity and experience of years of ministry. Many shared how God has blessed and used them.  I was renewed inwardly by reflecting on the faithfulness of God, my Rock, Jesus, the Cornerstone on which I build my life.  As the old hymn reminds me, “all other ground is sinking sand.”

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge” (Psalm 18:2).