2 Corinthians 4:13-5:10 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

¹³ But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. ¹⁵ For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ 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.

The Temporal and Eternal

5 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, ³ inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. ⁴ For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. ⁵ Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.

⁶ Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— ⁷ for we walk by faith, not by sight— ⁸ we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. ⁹ Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

“Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” I certainly see and feel the evidence of the first part of this statement in my life. As we age our bodies don’t always do the things we would like them to, the way we would like them to. What we are able to do sometimes comes with greater consequences in the form of sore muscles etc. I can look around and see that there are some who have been able to minimize the effects of aging on their bodies. Still even for the best of them the fact remains that time will eventually win out. None of us will live in these bodies forever. Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 says:    There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-- 2A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.  The time will come when our days here will be over, that is beyond the control of any of us.

What we can control is how we live the days we have. In today’s text Paul says that while our outer man is decaying our inner man is being renewed day by day. The question then is to what are we being renewed? Do we live each day to become a better, more successful version of ourselves? Do we strive to get ahead, renewing our self centered focus each day? Or do we live each day to be renewed and restored to what we were originally created to be? Genesis 1:26 says:      Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."   In Genesis 3:8-9, after Adam and Eve sinned we see this account of their interaction with God:    They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"  Man was created in the image and likeness of God and we were created to have fellowship with God. Just as God asked of Adam and Eve, He asks of each of us, “Where are you?” He doesn’t ask that question to obtain information that is unknown to Him. He asks that question so we will reflect and answer for ourselves, Where am I?

Where am I in the process of becoming what I was created to be? How far along am I in being renewed and restored to the image and likeness of God?, to having fellowship with Him?  Paul says this about the time when our days come to an end:      For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Hebrews 9:27 says: it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. Romans 3:10-12 says:  as it is written,

“There is none righteous, not even one; ¹¹ There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God; ¹² All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”

What chance then do we have if we are to be judged for our deeds, whether good or bad?  thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57) When we are in Christ we are judged according to what He has done. In Romans 7:18-25  Paul says: For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh… Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

That is the day by day renewal that we are called to live in. To daily become renewed and restored to the image and likeness of God and Christ Jesus. In this too we have a choice of how we work toward this goal. Jesus says: Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. (Matthew 16:24) If though we become too focused on ourselves and the work of self denial we fail to become renewed. Our renewal, our restoration is through the finished work of the cross of Christ.

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; ( 1 Peter 3:18)

Jesus died once for all the sins of all men. Our taking up the cross then is not so much about our daily dying. Jesus Himself did not remain on the cross, nor did He stay in the grave. He was raised again and lives. We too then are called to live in Christ, not continuing in death. Rather than continuing to daily focus on the death of our flesh we need to focus on the renewed life we have through Christ. John the Baptist give us some insight of how we can walk in the fullness of Christ’s resurrection, renewal and restoration. In John 3:30 he says:  He must increase, but I must decrease.

That is the key to our day by day renewal in Christ. That day by day we allow Christ to increase in our lives. There is only so much room in any vessel. If we allow ourselves to be filled with Christ, there is no longer room for self.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit, thank You for the finished work of the cross which is all I need. Through the cross I am renewed. Through the cross I am redeemed. Through the cross I am restored to the likeness and image of You. I stand judged in Christ, thank You for Your grace. Day by day, I pray that you will fill me and increase in my life until there is nothing left of me. So that in me others may see You, Your love, Your mercy, Your truth and justice.  Amen.