I had to laugh when I read Ecclesiastes 12:1-4 yesterday. I copied it into my journaling notes to write about later. I read it aloud to Holly and she said, “The bible tells it like it is doesn’t it? It doesn’t hold back.”
Check this out:
The Problems of Old Age
Remember your Creator while you are young, before the bad times come—before the years come when you say, “I have wasted my life.”
2 Remember your Creator while you are young, before the time comes when the sun and the moon and the stars become dark to you—before problems come again and again like one storm after another.
(This is what had me cracking up:)) 3 At that time your arms will lose their strength. Your legs will become weak and bent. Your teeth will fall out, and you will not be able to chew your food. Your eyes will not see clearly. 4 You will become hard of hearing. Ecclesiastes 12:1-4
I guess the older I get the more comical and true this sounds. I hope that I am still soaking up and spreading God’s love even when I’m gumming my food that I can’t see what it is; unless Jesus comes before that day of beginning stages of decay. Oh, God, I welcome you sending your Son!
Then God revealed 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 to me today, and the two scriptures blended together.
16 That is why we never give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day. 17 We have small troubles for a while now, but these troubles are helping us gain an eternal glory. That eternal glory is much greater than our troubles. 18 So we think about what we cannot see, not what we see. What we see lasts only a short time, and what we cannot see will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
We may be falling apart on the outside, but on the inside we are…made new every day! Praise Jesus!
Our eyesight may be fading, such as life, but what we have waiting for us (if you are a Christian) is more than we can even fathom.
Just like Holly realized that the bible tells it like it is and doesn’t hold back, that is so the reflection of our awesome God. He doesn’t want to hold anything back from you in the end. He has something fabulous He wants to share with us.
So live out loud for Him now. Live by faith. Grow old, turn grey and wrinkly, lose your teeth or keep them in a cup by your bedside, and fumble around looking for your glasses, because the day is coming when you will receive your new body. And take delight that God makes you have a new inside each day. The Message says, “…not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.” Thank you, Jesus! Thank you for your expanding generosity.
Blessings to you!
September 17, “Walking in the Word”