When You Resent What Your Body Has Become

There comes a stretch of years when the mirror stops feeling like a friend. Your knees don't work the way they used to. The energy you took for granted at thirty isn't there when you reach for it. You catch a photo of yourself and don't recognize the person looking back, and something in you resents it. Bart knows the feeling. In his mind he still feels like he's in his thirties, until he bends down to tie his shoes, hears himself groan, and remembers his body didn't get the memo.This episode opens with Sharon Betters and Susan Hunt, two longtime Bible teachers who were each asked to speak on growing older. The surprise was who leaned in to listen. Right alongside older women were women in their 20s and 30s, taking notes on how to age well before they had started. In a culture that spends billions trying to look young, these young women wanted to know how to grow old on purpose, so Sharon and Susan went looking for an answer in Scripture.Paul gave the Corinthians the plain truth and a longer view at the same time. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, "That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day." Paul does not soften the first part. Our bodies are dying. An older rendering says our outer self is wasting away. He is not going to insult you by telling you your knees are fine.But look at the second half. While the body winds down, something else in you is being renewed, every single day. Your spirit, the person God is making, is not aging. It is growing. The renewal and the decline are happening on the same timeline, in the same person, and the part being built up is the part that lasts forever. The wrinkles and the stiff joints are telling you the truth about the outer person. They just cannot see the part of you that is getting newer while the rest gets older.That is what Sharon and Susan found. They wrote "Aging with Grace," ending each chapter with a friend between 70 and 90 telling how she made peace with her changing body. Sharon, whose own body was giving out, put the heart of it in one sentence: "As my body weakens, my God-ordained purpose to glorify God is unchanged." The years take things from the body. They don't get a vote on what God is doing in you.BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:Why resenting your aging body is a common struggle that few people admitWhat 2 Corinthians 4:16 says is being renewed in you even as the body wears downOne thing you can do to feed the inner person on the days the mirror discourages youYour body is wearing out, but the person God is making inside you is being renewed every day, and that is the person who lasts.Share This Episode:https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/Need Prayer? Leave me a voicemail:https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/voicemailWant to keep these devotions coming? Please consider supporting this podcast.https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/support/Rate and Reviewhttps://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/reviews/new/Connect with BartFacebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/dailydevotionsforbusylivesWebsite: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.comFeeling spiritually drained? Start here. Download your free copy of my eBook Making Time for Jesus here: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/subscribe.