A Bible verse about restoration:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16
I feel it. Every day. It’s there when I wake up. It is even worse when I go to bed.
In a few days, I’ll be 39 years old, but I feel significantly older than that.
At this point, it would be easier for me to list the parts of me that do NOT feel pain. But that’s not what this article is about.
The point is, I certainly feel that I am, “wasting away.” At least, physically.
Our earthly bodies were not meant for immortality. They age and deteriorate because we’re not meant to reside in them forever.
In the grand scope of life and the afterlife, our physical bodies are akin to the first dumpy rental you lived in during college.
It’s a stepping point on our path to the forever.
But, Do Not Lose Heart
It’s easy to look at our failing bodies and to become disheartened with our mortality. Our frailty, and the sheer recognition of it is startling.
In light of that, we have to remember that we are being “renewed day by day.”
To some extent, this is physical. But I submit that the primary purpose of this renewal is mental and spiritual.
God created day and night. Humans require sleep, so that seems in perfect harmony.
Sleep is when our bodies recover from the day. Sleep is where we physically grow most efficiently. During sleep we dream, and we discover visions, or previews of what is to come in our life as Steve Harvey says.
Is it an accident that when we’re sick our bodies tell us to sleep? No. For that’s when we are healed.
As we sleep, we are renewed. While I am quite fond of a mid-day nap, the primary intention is to sleep at night. Thus, when we wake, we are renewed by the new day.
Remember, every day that you wake up is a reminder that God is not finished with you yet.
As our earthly bodies deteriorate day by day, we might find that this renewal is not sufficient. I am perpetually tired. No matter how much sleep I get, I wake up exhausted.
I can’t tell you the last time I felt physically renewed.
That is why I purpose that the intention of this renewal is mental and spiritual.
As I understand this process, I can agree that my body is falling apart every single day. In order to balance that, my spirit is growing every single day.
Each day, while my body is failing, I have the opportunity to wake with a renewed spirit as I have the opportunity to seek God’s purpose for my life.
I can hardly think of a greater sense of renewal than that.
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