In the movie Benjamin Button, the main character is mentally immature, but starts out in an old person’s body. As he matures mentally, his physical body becomes younger and younger to a point where he is an old man mentally in a very young persons body.
The Christian is the opposite. The body of the Christian is decaying, but the spiritual man is being “renewed day by day”. The body for all of us breaks down over time. Some of us are able to slow the decay, others of us experience a rapid decay through circumstances or out of neglect. But nobody can stop the decay ultimately despite all best of intentions. The death rate is 100%. The inner man became a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) yet is still imprisoned in the old body.
But my inner man is a different story. The inner man can actually grow – grow in holiness. I can become more spiritually mature even as my body degenerates (Eph 3:16). For every verse that we are told to take care of our body for it is the temple of the Holy Spirit, there are 10 verses describing our growth in the inner man. It is a battle! My decaying flesh wages war against the new person inside of me. My desire for holiness constantly facing the forces of decay generating from my body of sin. Paul describes this battle in Romans 7:21-25. He says “wretched man that I am – who will rescue me from this body of flesh?” What is my desire? Where am I spending my time? How well do I know Him who saved me?
In the glorious resurrection body, the inner man meets up with a perfect body and that becomes our body for eternity. I can’t wait for that body. Each ache is a painful, a reminder of my bodily atrophy. There is a reason the Scripture says that “all creation groans awaiting redemption”. In the meantime, I seek perfect holiness which is only possible through the transformation from within. Thanks be to God who makes such holiness possible!
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