Re-new....

After a few of us were complaining about our ailments this morning at church a friend stated: "Well, I intend to outlive my body!" chuckle....chuckle....chuckle And I think she meant it!

When we realize that these bodies we have been given will be with us to the end of this life and when it becomes evident that no, we won't be getting a new body to work with any time soon, it makes us think about what we would/could do to RE-NEW these old worn out ones.

Renew....making something new AGAIN. Take off the old varnish, the old paint, the old wall paper, sand down to the real wood underneath, which was there at the beginning....and simply starting over....making it new....AGAIN.

We can't do that with our bodies. Oh, we can take off 50 pounds, tone up those flabby arms and bellies, exercise our hearts by walking, running, swimming etc., get face lifts, liposuction and diet pills. We can even get new hearts, lungs, legs and nose jobs. We're still left with our old bodies. Maybe in a bit better shape, but we can never be like we were in our youth. We're stuck with what we've been given. ughhhhh

Our spirits are different from our bodies. It's something that can be made new again. Work needs to be done though, you know, the sanding down of our anger and hostility, the scraping away our pride and self-righteousness, the peeling off our jealousy and arrogance, those things that need cleaning and refining and polishing. When we find that the only thing that can make our spirits new again is God, that's when we can begin the renewing. Only then.

I'm desiring to be re-new-ed. I want God to come into me and make my spirit new again. I need him to enter in those places that need sweeping and chiseling and some extra mopping.

Spirit clean-up is hard work. I find it's tiring work. It's tiring because some days I don't see any sign of improvement. Things I've been working on for months, dare I say years, are still visible and I look as dull and ugly as I did the day I started my "home improvement". I need to continue to remember Who it is that is doing the renewing. Our desire for change, His desire and mine, need to mesh to get the job done.

Psalm 51:10 says: "God, create a pure heart in me. Give me a new spirit that is faithful to you."

Ya. That about sums it up. I'm going now to get the paint remover....