Another uniqueness of Christianity is the presence of an invisible creature that is created within us at the time of our spiritual birth. That creature is eternal, has the mind of Christ, and will never sin. It is encased within the body of our sinful flesh, waiting to be set free at our physical death.
“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16, NASB); that my friend is something to get excited about. As I age and my body continues to tell me that the end is getting closer, I don’t have to be discouraged because that inner man that I can’t see is continuing to grow in Christ-likeness, to one day be clothed in a perfect resurrected body.
As I wait for that exchange to take place, giving up my sinful body of flesh for a perfect body that can stand in the presence of the glory of the living God, I can endure the trials of the present life, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for [me] an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17, NASB). Even if that affliction results in death for some of us, we must not forget that,
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21, NASB). That gain is the glory we receive from God through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and his resurrection. When the going gets tough don’t lose sight of that which we possess in Jesus Christ that we cannot see.
By faith, “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 Cor. 4:18, NASB). In America there are so many attractive things to catch our attention it is easy to get caught up in that which is temporal and miss out in our quest for that which God has prepared for us. Let us press on and lay hold of that which God has prepared for us (Phil. 3:12). With joy, let us endure to the end that we be found to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:4).
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