“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”
(2 Corinthians 4:16 ESV)
When I turned 30 I ran half my age, 15 miles in under 2 hours. At 37 I only run 4 days a week and do complimentary cross-training 2 days, yet something is always sore or needs stretched (and I sure cannot run 15 miles in 2 hours). Put bluntly my body is wasting away, dying. While I will be the first to jump up and say we should put in the work to make our bodies healthy and useful, there is nothing we can do to stop what is coming.
Yet our being lives on and if we take Paul at his word our being thrives despite physical decay. We must notice something in the Apostle’s statement. He does not say that since our bodies break down we need to seek out a program of spiritual, emotional, and mental renewal. No, he says that “our inner self is being renewed”. The Spirit of the living God is actively convicting and renewing a believer’s heart. That is a powerful statement!
Let me provide some clarity. The Bible certainly directs us to fellowship, wise council, and appropriate enriching activities. He Himself gives and works in these things. What we want to remember is that He is the Potter molding His clay as He sees fit. Because ultimately He is going to give these broken vessels a new and perfected body.
“For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”
(1 Corinthians 15:53 ESV)
Grace be with you,
Jason G. Lutz
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