Week 46 Corinthians
Paul: though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably greater glory that will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now; rather we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.
On a blank sheet I draw a diagonal line – top-left-to-bottom-right. I call it the Outer Me.
Another diagonal line – bottom-left-to-top-right – I call the Inner Me.
Along the Outer Me line I pencil in a few things Paul said or implied. Decline. Decay. Sensory inputs only. Temporal…temporary. Dead…Death – I write those last two in the bottom corner.
Along the Inner Me line I write renewal. Trans-sensory things…invisibles. Eternals. Lasting…Permanent.
So two different things are progressing or regressing in me. Different starting points. Different trajectories. Different destinations.
Near the end the Inner Me is reminded of two things. First that my present troubles are terminal; they won’t last very long. Short-term troubles vs. eternal joy.
Secondly that my present troubles – strangely enough – have two effects on Inner Me: a) they’re troublesome, obviously…but b) they eventually produce glory for me.
A time contrast: brief vs. permanent.
And a weight contrast: small & light-weight vs. substantial…heavy.
Outer Me & Inner Me. In a contest to determine where I land.
Note: quote from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NLT)