The secret to becoming younger inside despite aging outside
On a recent ski trip with my family, I had one of those pivotal moment experiences. The kind that makes you look at your life and decide you will do whatever it takes to make a change. After only a short half day of skiing, my quads tapped out. To be fair to my screaming muscles, they did work harder than normal as I labored to help my son’s girlfriend down her first ever green run. It took us two hours, we were lapped about three times by the family, and I had multiple moments of helping her up and back into her skis while trying to keep myself from back skiing down the mountain.
The remainder of the trip, my muscles reminded me we are aging. I am forty-six years old, but I forget. I feel young at heart and in fairly good shape. The mountain proved to me it was time to make a change. When we returned from our trip, I found a personal trainer and committed to six months of training in the gym with her three days a week. I committed to a strict diet in conjunction with strength training to help me gain muscle mass. I went all in.
After my first training day, I stood on a scale that spit out all types of metrics I know nothing about. However, the one that made me most excited was my metabolic age. 31 years old. I knew it! I knew I felt young for a reason. Inside I feel younger than my outer body lives out on the daily.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” 1 Corinthians 4:16
We live in the physical world. We age, our body breaks down; however, if we are in Christ, our inner self is being renewed daily. Just as I work with my personal trainer to strengthen my outer body, when I spend time with God, spend time in His Word, choose to obey Him, spend time in prayer, meditate on scripture, and serve the body of Christ, I am putting my inner self through spiritual strength training.
My trainer coached me through chest presses I would have never done without the pressure of someone standing over me. She knew I could do what I was convinced I couldn’t do. I didn’t tell her, but inside I was telling myself it was impossible to do even one more press. Yet, I did five more simply because she stayed by my side telling me to keep going.
Christ stands at our side. We will not be shaken. We will not be moved. He knows that we are weak, but He is strong. He knows He will give us every bit of strength to walk out this life in a way that makes our inner self strong and lovely.
“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 1 Corinthians 4:17-18
What light momentary affliction are you facing today? Is it a tantrum throwing toddler, a rebellious teenager, an aging parent, a marital struggle, loneliness, rejection, job loss, financial hardship? Sometimes the weight of our worry, anxiety, and struggle feels too much to bear. And it is. He never intended us to bear the weight alone or stand without our trainer at our side. He is there, assisting you, holding the weight for you.
But the training the Lord has us in is preparing us for eternity. What we walk through here on Earth is preparing us to carry an eternal weight of glory! Just stop and meditate on that for a moment. We will be entrusted in eternity to carry the weight of His glory. So we train now in godliness.
Give little attention to the physical world. Keep your eyes fixed on what is unseen and eternal. This life will be over in a nano-second.
“So we do not lose heart…..”
Lord, Thank you that you promise to renew us day by day as we stay close to you. Thank you for your Word that instructs us how to lift the weight of this world off of us and onto your shoulders. Thank you that your yoke is easy. Thank you that you are always near so we need never lose heart. Strengthen us on the inside so that we can walk in this physical world well. Prepare us to carry that eternal weight of glory. What you have for us, the mind has never conceived. Wow, Lord. You are too good to us. Forgive us for forgetting you so frequently. Keep our eyes fixed on you and the unseen. We love you.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
