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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
Teetering on the brink of hopelessness is a horrific, terrifying experience. I don't know the numbers, but every day men and women cross the line from little hope into despair. The land of despair is the land where heart has been lost and where reasons for living are obscured by the pain of the moment. Paul was not a victim of such depressing thoughts, but he could empathize and encourage those who were. Today's message explores some of what the Bible has to say about losing heart.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4.16). Paul fully recognized that man was composed of more than the physical body. In our focus text (and the surrounding context), he clearly spoke of and took hope in an invisible world. He wrote about the outward man that was perishing, and the inward man that was being renewed day by day. In both cases, it is interesting that the perishing and the renewal are in the passive voice. In other words, they are occurring due to forces outside ourselves. We do not have to do anything to perish; it just happens. In a similar fashion, we cannot in and of ourselves renew the inward man. To use an old, old phrase, it's like trying to lift ourselves up by our own boot straps!
Such is the world where all that exists is composed of the physical things about us. Ever so often, we are shocked when a star or starlet from the entertainment world takes his/her own life. In many of the cases, someone will be heard to muse, “We just can’t understand why someone who seemingly had everything would choose to meet such a tragic end!” Behind the public scenes of Hollywood where such losses are counted in the headlines, are the ordinary folks, folks like you and me, who lose heart and drop out of the human race. Not all of these cases end in outward death, but all of them end in death. When the soul of man dies (literally or figuratively) an occasion of great sadness and mourning has arrived.
The difference between those who die internally (lose heart) and those who do not is complex, but at the same time, it is quite simple. Those who die internally, die because they have no concept of reality outside of themselves. Paul looked at reality when he looked at “the things which are not seen.” (2 Corinthians 4.18a). Please try to understand (even as I do) that life contains an illusion; unless one understands to some degree that illusion, despair and death will occur. Hear Paul: “For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4.18b).
What appears to be lasting is fleeting. On the other hand, that which seems not to exist is actually eternal. Real estate is real, but it is not eternal! Some day this entire earth and all that is in it will be dissolved (see 2 Peter 3.9-10). How real will real estate be then? That is the illusion of life! The failure to perceive this illusion and to come to grips with its reality is a sure recipe to losing heart and to death. On the other hand, when we recognize this illusion, we can order our lives in harmony with reality. That is what Paul meant when he said, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5.1). This may be what many call “pie in the sky” religion, but their denial of the facts does not change reality.
When we try to climb the ladder of success, we risk a fall. When we place that ladder against a wall that is unsteady (i.e. the physical universe and all its trappings), we are sure to fall. Regardless of how it may appear, he who dies with the most toys does not win! Only those who enter eternity with God’s loving embrace win! That is how the inward man is renewed day by day!
Questions:
1. What does it mean to lose heart? When a person loses heart, what happens if they do not find it again?
2. Why are those who depend upon material and mundane success so susceptible to losing heart?
3. How was Paul able not to lose heart in spite of all the physical reverses he had known (you are urged to read 2 Corinthians 11.18-22 before answering this question)?
4. Describe in your own words the illusion of life that is referenced in this article? How can we know that such an illusion exists? How can we avoid the destiny connected with failing to understand it?
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