Better on the Inside– spiritually renewed day by day

Several years ago, when my daughter was in college, I  planned a “good Mommy” moment, and made homemade, heart-shaped, hand-decorated sugar cookies to mail to her for Valentine’s day.  Sending care packages of homemade goodies to my children in college was not something that I did nearly often enough, so I took great care in decorating the cookies to make them extra beautiful.  When I was ready to ship them, I found a nice, sturdy box that would hopefully protect them from arriving as beautiful pink and red crumbs.  Even better, the box, from a local gourmet candy shop, had a shiny gold exterior, which made it pretty to unwrap.

When the package arrived, my daughter was truly excited.  Before opening the box, she went down the hall to find her friend.  She then said something like… “Oh, my Mom is the best!  She sent me CHOCOLATES from my favorite candy shop for Valentine’s Day!  You just have to try these candies– they are so awesome!!!”

And then, while they were both dreaming of luscious gourmet chocolates, they opened the package and found my homemade cookies.  Suddenly, I went from being the best Mom to the worst!  The cookies that I had spent so much time making looked so much less appealing than the the anticipated chocolates.   Without it ever occurring to me, I had played a mean, deceptive trick on my daughter.  The box promised gourmet chocolates, yet yielded my cookies.

Imagine then, if I had sent the cookies in a banged and dented box that had previously contained, say, tissues, or, perhaps, dental floss.  Then, to open the package expecting a boring, utilitarian item and finding beautiful homemade cookies— WOW!

It wasn’t that my cookies weren’t tasty, or beautiful, or made with love.  It was simply that the promise of the outside of the box was not matched by the contents inside.

As I continue this year to meditate on the “newness” that we have in Christ, I was thinking of II Corinthians 4:16  “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”   

At my age, I am increasingly aware of the the “outer self wasting away” part of this verse.  Each year, there is a new ache or stiffness.  My eyesight is worsening, and my optometrist foresees cataract surgery in the future.  I don’t move as fast, hear as well, walk as far, or lift as much weight as I used to.  Add to that wrinkles, sags, bunions, memory lapses, tiredness… and it is easy to lose heart.  From an earthly standpoint, it is all downhill from here.

But, the promise of Scripture is that our inner self is being renewed day by day!  That part of us that is eternal is not wasting away, winding down, or deteriorating in any way.  Rather, far from it!  The spirit within us, given to us at our new birth, is growing, strengthening, improving, maturing, and ramping up for eternity.  We are just getting started.  We are being spiritually renewed.

As this earthly life fades out, the spiritual, eternal life fades in.

In II Corinthians 4, Paul expounds on this contrast between the sufferings and failings of our bodies, and the persevering, strengthening of our spirits.  Then, he concludes that wonderful passage with:

¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

As people, we live with the afflictions.  They don’t always seem light and momentary.  We experience the pain and failings of our physical bodies.  Our reality sometimes feels so much like it is simply the cracked jar or dented cardboard box that is visible to everyone else.  It is easy to overlook the unseen things that God is doing within each of us– that we are being spiritually renewed.

Because we can be so influenced by the visible, earthly realities, we need to remind ourselves often of the comparisons made by Paul in this chapter:

• 1.  Our “afflictions” are momentary (quick), our “glory beyond all comparison” is eternal.
•  2.  Our afflictions are light, our glory is weighty.
• 2.  Our “seen bodies” are transient (here and gone), our spirit (unseen) is forever.

So, our spiritual reality is that our outward bodies (jars of clay, or God’s Treasure Boxes, from earlier in II Cor. 4) are used and beat up, declining, not very promising.  But inside, God is growing our spirit, conforming it to the image of Jesus, preparing it for an ageless eternity.  So, we are kind of like the opposite of the unfortunate Valentine’s Day package that I sent to my daughter.  We are, instead, like a humble, breaking down, boring, dental floss box on the outside that is filled with a gourmet chocolate treat like this single chocolate truffle that costs more than $200!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

With Joy,

Kathleen