Renewed

Posted by Jeffrey Smith June 27th, 2016 2,294 Views 0 Comments

Ecclesiastes 11:10-So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless.

2 Corinthians 4:16-Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

There is a battle that wages for the mind. We are constantly bombarded with so much on a daily basis. The enemy wants us to feel removed from the Lord and he will remind us constantly of any area of lack that may try and appear in our lives. One of the ways that the enemy works is to try and attack our body. 

I hear this a lot, well, when I was young I used to run everywhere, now I'm m old and cannot do that anymore. I have seen a lot of Christian athletes who were tied to their identity with their youth and struggle to connect in a world where their body is not perfect anymore. I see folks who's body is fine and yet the enemy suggests otherwise. They can feel symptoms of a lie that never even exists! I'm not suggesting that the pain is not real, but the salvation of the Lord is stronger than the lie of the enemy, every time.

The point is that when we wrap ourselves up in an identity other than Jesus, we will be disappointed. We will build an unrealistic sense of security around one area of our lives. It is like the scientist who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, or Lou Gehrig who was an athlete and whose body broke down. The enemy wants to attack the very area that we most identify with as our source of joy. The blessings that the Lord gives us are a reminder of the power of Jesus Christ.

When we place our love and identity in Jesus, we cannot be disappointed. Jesus is unfailing, He is eternal, and He is never decaying or breaking down. 

When we do that, and put our trust, and identity in Jesus Christ, we are able to cast off all our troubles, all of our anxieties, and be renewed inwardly in our spirit. It is that within us that renews the outside of our bodies only after our inward man is restored!

If we have negative symptoms outwardly, then most likely it is because we have moved our identity off of Jesus. Trust in Jesus, and be renewed inwardly day by day and in that, regardless of what things look like on the outside, we will all be in peace, and filled with love and eternal life in the hands of our loving Savior.

Father, thank You for renewing us daily in Christ and for helping us to look to You for all things. In Jesus name, amen.