Don’t let the past remind you of what you are not now. ~Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young~ |
If you’re old enough, you might remember the song (this line comes from). It’s a statement about diminishing. And although it is true that all of us are diminishing and even decaying, it is equally true that we are developing. The older I get the more perspective I have to view life, which allows me to perceive more of my life from a biblical perspective. The apostle Paul reminds us that both diminishing and developing can take place. “Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4: 16-18) Now that is a great angle from which to assess your life, decaying on the outside and developing on the inside. I can testify that both are at work in me. But it is vital to understand the contrast between what Paul calls the things that are eternal and the things that are temporal. Age has a way of clarifying what is truly important. And yet “the tinseled sham of a temporal world can delude the eye and beguile the heart.” As our days wind down and our bodies wear out, it is essential that we continue to develop our inner man’s spiritual maturity and become conformed to the image of Christ. Things that matter least must never come about at the expense of things that matter most. -Goethe- What matters most to you? Serving Him with you until He comes for us, Fred |