“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV)
We’ve been talking about growth at church and it never ceases to amaze me how God chased us down with a concept when we pay attention.
A few days ago my husband and I made a trip to a trailer in the country. The man that lived there had been repairing a guitar that had suffered a fall. The damage to the instrument was extensive: a crack through the front panel, a shifted back panel and a significant crunch where the guitar had hit the floor.
Now my husband had been to this trailer before; he warned me that the road was pretty rough. We turned down the lane and the pavement gave way to packed dirt wind mud puddles large enough to lose an axle. The grass was long, only interrupted by abandoned trash and all manner of rusting out equipment. We picked our way to the end of the road and found the doublewide where the guitar was being repaired. We parked the car, made our way up slick, steep steps. Rob knocked and the door swung open. The guitar guy, his wife and their sweet toddler greeted us warmly and invited us in.
Inside the trailer was a totally different story. Every surface was clean, the home was in perfect order, despite the presence of the toddler. And the plants; oh my the plants! At first I just noticed the one fiddle-leaf bursting from the corner and as I opened my mouth to compliment, I realized the entire space was filled with healthy and thriving plants. I’m in awe of people with green thumbs. Me? I have one sad citronella I’m trying to keep alive.
So the plants were incredible, but the couple was also growing this bright-eyed, bouncing boy. He clearly enjoyed the attention of a loving mom and dad alike.
We stayed only a few minutes as my husband and the guitar specialist discussed the challenging repair. The man had done an outstanding job, it’s hard to reconcile the end result with the pre-repair condition. we are grateful for his expertise.
We squared up, said our goodbyes, fell down the steps and back into our car to make our way home. But the loving couple in their living room bursting with life stayed with me. Outside that trailer, the elements were winning the war for that acre. But inside, where it really counted, that couple was deeply invested in everything that mattered: their child, their home and each other. Outwardly, they were wasting away, but inwardly they were being renewed day by day.
We flip this script, don’t we? We put so much effort on outward appearances. We are so concerned with what the world sees. Our front yards, our social status, our hair and makeup and wardrobe, our Instagram account. But God isn’t concerned about the outside stuff: He’s looking far deeper. He wants to grow stuff in our soul; in a place that few people see but in a way that affects the people closest to us for eternity.
“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV)
As we age, the outer condition starts to fade and crumble. The elements take their toll. Physically, we deteriorate. But internally, we can be just like that trailer: near-bursting with love and life.
Lord, please let us be far more concerned with the space inside our soul than the outer appearance of our life. May we grow in all the ways that matter most. Show us how to tend to the important matters. Make our hearts into beautiful and gracious spaces. Amen.