A Pause to Ponder God's Word
"Fountain Of Youth"

The illusive fountain of youth remains an object of passionate pursuit in our society. Staying and looking young are twin obsessions. From oils to surgery, untold numbers of people spend untold amounts in an futile effort to remain young. Health clubs, spas. and cosmetic companies grow rich off a people that want to defy aging. Our culture speaks of aging with disdain, fear, as if it were immoral.

Aging and bodily deterioration are inevitable. It is not only a physical reality, it is a Biblical truth. 1 Corinthians 4:16 tells us that "outwardly we are wasting away." This is not a license for reckless living to speed the process. It is an eye opener to the foolishness of spending so much time, emotion, energy, and money on that which cannot be changed nor will last. We cannot, or need to, reverse the earthly process of aging and bodily deterioration. These bodies are only temporary dwellings. "Though outwardly we [God's people] are wasting away" we do not despair, for in Christ "we [God's people] are being inwardly renewed day by day."

God is not preparing of long life here on earth. This is not to say that He is not concerned about our life her on earth. Just the opposite. He came to earth that through Him we might live, move and have our being. We live for Him while we sojourn here. He uses us to accomplish His will as we walk with Him in the here and now. But, life in this realm is a preparatory temporary life. Our inward being is being prepared for a eternity with our Lord in the place that He is preparing for us. This is the very issue Jesus addressed in His sermon on the mount; "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth... But store up treasure in heaven." (Matthew 6:19,20) Later on He ask the penetrating question, "What good is it if a man gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26)

Our obsessive search for eternal youth needs to be replaced with a passion for "seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness." The things that are seen are very demanding and require attention. But they are temporary and that must always be kept in focus. They must not be our priority. They must not divert us from the essential. They must not distract us from the eternal. Therefore, "we fix our eyes not what is seen, but on the unseen. For we know that even the "light and momentary troubles" of this earthly life are in Christ "achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all." We know, "what is seen in temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Keep Close To Jesus
Pastor Gerry


A Pause To Ponder God's Word is written and distributed by Gerald Whetstone, Ordained Elder and teacher in the Church of the Nazarene. These devotionals may be transmitted, duplicated, used in part or in entirety without permission for nonprofit purposes only. Responses welcome. To Subscribe Click Here.
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