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“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our 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

I’ve been thinking about growing older lately. Specifically, my own aging process. Firstly, it’s amazing how when you’re 30, people who are in their 50s seem so stinking old…until you’re 50. Then, it’s astounding how young the fifth decade of life becomes in the scheme of life. See, in my head, I’m still in my late 30s or early 40s. This self-perception abruptly ends, however, when (a) I talk with someone in that age range or (b) I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror. Then I reluctantly acknowledge, “Nope, I am definitely not there anymore. I am old.”

To be clear, I’m in my fifties. And although I’m decades away from slowing down too much (Lord willing), there are clear signs of the length of road behind me. Waking up with an injury, for instance. Or being nagged by new random pain, seemingly relocating from day to day. Or not being able to come up with the right word for a concept. (This one is pretty frightening for me, as I make my living coming up with the right words.) And it can all be quite disheartening.

But the Apostle Paul has God-inspired wisdom for us on this topic (as he does on most topics). Now, as he was writing to the Corinthian church, he wasn’t technically talking about getting older, but rather the physical consequences of affliction and persecution that he and other believers were enduring as the Church was growing (2 Corinthians 7-11). However, I love verses 16 through 18, as applied to physical aging: We don’t have to lose heart as our outer person is decaying, because our inner person (who we really are) is being renewed every day! The aches, pains, memory lapses—even disease and illness—are “momentary, light afflictions” compared to our eternal life in glory with the Lord. In the previous chapter, too, Paul wrote that because of our hope in Christ, we are being transformed into the Lord’s image from one degree of glory to another (3:18) through the power of the Holy Spirit.

As the length of our journey in this world increases, we are simply closer to Home. In fact, I believe that the decaying (i.e., aging) process is a sweet reminder from God that we don’t belong here. As long as we’re tethered to this world, we’ll retain the “earthen vessel” (2 Corinthians 4:7) we’ve been given. But we’re in a shedding phase, of sorts. Like the miraculous metamorphosis of a caterpillar to butterfly, we’re meant to slough off our own natural man (day by day, year by year) to more clearly reveal the new nature of Christ’s righteousness given to us at salvation.

Friend, let’s delight in our decay! Because with it, our true nature—the treasure that the Lord created us to be—is being revealed. And one day (decades from now or tomorrow), when He calls us Home, we will be fully transformed, with a glorious, resurrected body, unburdened by pain, tears, or sin. So, with each new ache or frustrating memory lapse, let’s thank the Lord…it just means we’re that much closer to our joyful flourishing in heaven.

“Father, as I struggle with the pain and decay of my body (and this world), may I remember that my home is in heaven and my Real Life is yet to begin.”

For His Glory

Julianne Winkler Smith (encouraged by grace books)
TRBC Women’s Life