Even As Everything Else Deteriorates
Aging isn’t always a fun process. Everything just seems to take more time and more effort with each passing year. What I could once do without thinking now sometimes takes a concerted effort to pull it off. My mind says “yes, go for it” while my body says “ain’t no way!” I walk downstairs or into another room only to forget why I went there in the first place. On the flipside, with age comes maturity, but even that I sometimes wonder about.
While it is inevitable that our bodies and minds begin to fail us, and we become physically weaker, if we continue to pursue God and grow in intimacy with Him, our faith grows stronger, even as everything else is deteriorating. We find that very truth in 2 Corinthians 4:16. While I want us to focus in on v.16, let’s look at that section within its context. I encourage you to never just read one verse. Instead read that verse within the verses that come before and after it. All meaning is context dependent. In this chapter Paul is writing about his confidence in God’s ability to sustain him and in his great hope in the future.
Now here is vv.14-18 – “(14) We know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and present us with you. (15) Indeed, everything is for your benefit, so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving to increase to God’s glory. (16) Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. (17) For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. (18) So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Elsewhere in Scripture we see that if we continue to press in closer to Jesus, and not allow our faith to deteriorate like our bodies and minds, that we will remain green and fresh. Here is what we find in Psalm 92:12-15 – “The righteous will spring up like a palm tree. They will grow strong like a cedar of Lebanon. Those who have been replanted in the LORD’s house will spring up in the courtyards of our God. They will bear fruit even when old and gray; they will remain lush and fresh in order to proclaim: “The LORD is righteous. He’s my rock. There’s nothing unrighteous in him” (CEV).
And as you look in the mirror and see gray hair, know too that is a crown to be worn proudly, as you walk out a life lived in pursuit of God. If you don’t believe me, click here.
So, regardless of your age, or the condition of your body and mind, never stop pursuing more of God. Doing so will keep you fresh, just as God is fresh every day. Let me end with this – “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him’” (Lamentations 3:22-24).
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