Wasting Away

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)

I hate to break it to you, but if you are blissfully unaware or you aren’t over 30, we only get worse looking with time. I have wrinkles, you guys, that have magically popped up in the last year!  (And seriously, if we have to get them, shouldn’t we get to decide where they go!?)

Here Paul reminds us of the scientific fact that our bodies won’t remain a ten (even if we could attain the unattainable) … they are “wasting away”, aging, decaying, shriveling up or whatever else you want to call it. Proverbs tells us that outer beauty fades (see chapter 31). Cosmetics, creams, and surgeries can only serve to cover up the evidence, and often poorly at that. So why is it that we women, and men, try so darn hard to fight the inevitable?

Is it because we have neglected the inner self?  Maybe, just perhaps, our focus has been so external for so long that our soul has shriveled and is “wasting away”. We view ourselves as the sum total of our physical appearance, the picture we see in the mirror each morning.  Here Paul reminds us that, yes, our bodies break down on the outside, but the inner person, the person we truly are, can be renewed day by day, if we belong to Christ. So we can become stronger and more beautiful where it counts even while gravity does its damage to our exterior. This kind of beauty is true, rare, and can’t fade – after all. It may not draw attention or accolades from passerby on the street, but it WILL make an eternal difference for us and the people God has ordained we interact with.  If the outside man wastes away regardless of our attempts otherwise, being “renewed day by day” on the inside sounds like a pretty good deal to me!