Waisting Away....I’m just saying

Remember the Atkins diet? I do. In fact I lost quiet a bit of weight. It was an awesome weight loss plan. Basically you could eat all the protein you wanted. Then there were the few carbohydrates you could eat. The idea was to put the body into ketosis (starvation) and let it begin to eat its own fat. It worked. But Rebecca remembers it not so awesomely. She saw my face become drawn, my skin looked pale, and my obsession on weight loss was borderline anorexic. The only negative I saw was that everything I ate tasted like protein. I was literally wasting away.

 

The truth is that we are all wasting away. From the moment we are born our DNA is coded for only so many years. Our body stops growing around the age of 25. From there the DNA structure is continually healing itself until around the age of 55. From then on our bodies can’t hold themselves together and we begin to waste away. Aging is God’s way of weaning us from this life.

 

But the Apostle Paul tells us not to lose heart. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 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.”

 

The momentary pressures of this life do not compare to the eternal pressure of glory. In other words the moments that seem inconvenient, that cause frustrations, anger, resentment, and pain will last for just a short time. But the weight of glory, the crown of life, the reward of the Father will last eternally. So we endure. No, we more than endure, we overcome!

 

As one person put it, “God has not made us who we are in spite of our trials, but because of them.” Nothing catches God off guard, therefore everything is allowed in order to produce in us greater grace, and more glory for God. So, though our outward body wastes away our inner self is being renewed daily. Each day that I allow God to teach me grace, the greater the weight of glory. Each day that I allow God to teach me forgiveness, the greater the weight of glory. Each moment that I allow God to teach me to love my enemies, do good to those who speak ill of me, and to pray for those who persecute me, the greater the weight of glory.

 

It is contradictory because the world says that to overcome we must push each other aside, climb our way to the top, and live in a dog eat dog world. But a world like that produces anxiety and depression. And to all who wear those bonds Jesus says, “come to me all who are weary and heavy laden (wasting away), take my yoke upon yourself for it is light and I will give you rest.”

 

I will not waste away silently. Instead I will lift my voice and declare the wonder of my God, His mighty work of reconciliation, and His life giving Spirit. One day I will be ushered into His presence to receive a crown of life whose weight comes through the eternal glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…I’m just saying.