March 23

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

The decay of our outer man is inevitable, but that is not where it ends. We are to be people of the inner man, the new creation dwelled by Christ. The path to the realization of all the nature of the new, inner man is by affliction. We cry out, “unfair.” Yet, that is God’s way of showing us that we can not, we must not, rely on the nature of the outer man. Only by seeing God at work in the midst of our affliction can we grow in the understanding of the goal He has for us—conformance to the image of Christ. We will not learn this when everything seems to be going smoothly, when we have no difficulty imagining that we are in control. Only by realizing that most of life is beyond our control may we fully begin to obtain all that is promised us in Christ. We must learn to see Him at every turn. We need to see Him side by side with us through every difficulty.

Lord, I want to have eyes for the unseen. I know You are all about me, and I long for the ability to perceive You in all things. Your Spirit is designed to do this for me, and my task is to wait, to listen, and to obey. Your ways lead to eternal life. There will come the day when this temporal life is over, but a new way will be open for me. By placing faith in You I know that that all these things will increasingly become true for me in my experience. I thank You in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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