Daily devotional · July 26
Renewed Day by Day
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Paul admits that outwardly we are wasting away. Bodies tire, get sick, and age. Yet inwardly, he says, we are being renewed day by day. He calls our present troubles light and momentary compared with the weight of glory that is coming, which is a remarkable thing to say from someone who had been beaten, shipwrecked, and imprisoned. Paul is not dismissing pain; he is widening the frame. He teaches us to fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, because what is seen is temporary. Today, notice how much of your worry concerns things that will not matter in ten years. Give five minutes to your inner life: read a psalm, sit quietly, or thank God for something invisible, such as faith, hope, or love. Choose to invest in what lasts, and let it renew you gradually.
Prayer
God, renew my inner life today. Help me fix my eyes on what lasts.