If you are looking a bit haggard in the morning, if the bags under your eyes seem just a bit droopier and darker, if those once wonderful smile lines have become deep crevices, I have a verse for you. It is 2 Corinthians 4:16. “. . . though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” We ought to put that on our mirrors. It gives us reason for thanksgiving. Hooray for the inner man. Hooray for the God who renews that inner guy. It’s hard to read that and not smile and behold when we smile that old haggard face in the mirror doesn’t look half bad.
This passage in 2 Corinthians is really good. Look at what comes next. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; . .” Sunrises and sunsets have glory. Morning Glories have glory. But nothing is going to top the “far more exceeding” glory waiting for us. I tell you. I promise you. You are going to be looking good. God is going to lavish you with a glory that has “eternal weight.” It will never fade. It will never go away. You got it. You get to keep it.
So there, you old haggard face filled with scars, cracks and crevices. You are having your day now but the best is yet to come. In 1 Corinthians 15 God promises us a spectacular resurrection body. I put this “old acorn” in the ground and up comes a “magnificent oak.” I told my students today I feel sorry for them because I am just a few years away from consciously realizing this glory and they have to wait decades. Don’t tell me getting old isn’t great.
Written by Roger Bothwell on November 5, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org