Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Open Wide!

"Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day" (2 Corinthians 4:16)

Ok, I admit it! I am getting older. This morning I learned that I need to undergo a dental process known as receiving a "partial." Now not that it matters one bit, mind you, but my wife has worn a partial for a number of years. And she's younger than I am! The stark reality in any case is that I am aging and that parts of me are wearing out and in need of either replacement or repair. Can I get a witness?

Actually, the Apostle Paul told everyone this a long time ago when he wrote to the believers in Corinth and reminded them that we are all "decaying" day by day. Now I'll be the first to admit that, in our native tongue, "decay" is not a very palatable term. But there it is, the reality of life for all of us. We're decaying! In the original language of the New Testament, this word means literally "corrupt across" or "corrupt throughout." Passively, as it appears here, it refers to that which is perishing and which will ultimately end in death.

Wow, now there is some really good news for a Tuesday morning, isn't it? Actually, beloved, that isn't even Paul's point at all. The good news we find in his contrasting statement that, though we are all indeed dying slowly, we can all be undergoing a marvelous divine renewal at the very same time! This renewal is taking place in our "inner man" in our personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We are growing more and more like Jesus as and to the extent that we allow His Spirit to carry on this glorious work of renewal within each of our hearts. We of all people have reason to rejoice, then, for we are being prepared moment by moment to live with Jesus Christ forever!

Oh yes, and about that "decaying" thing? Paul told those same Corinthian believers that even our physical bodies will undergo divine transformation in preparation for living together eternally with our Redeemer.

"For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:53)

How, then, do you view your daily life, regardless of the chronological age at which you find yourself right now? As I see it, we have two choices: to view our living as dying or to view our living as divine transformation. Personally I choose the latter. Bring on that "partial," then, and I'll wear it with pride! There is something going on in my life that outshines every possible vestige of "decay" that I might have to undergo. I'm getting ready for eternity. How about you?

Ron