The Secret to Aging Gracefully

I am reading in 2 Corinthians this morning about the difference between the fading glory of the old Covenant brought through Moses compared to the glory of the new Covenant we have in Christ. Moses veiled his face so the Israelites wouldn't stare at the fading radiance that came from being in the presence of God. Then Paul concludes by saying "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the lord, who is the Spirit." (3:18)

Later, I am running, watching the sun rise with it's "ever-increasing" light and it dawns on me (no pun intended) that we as Christians always live in the sunrise of a new day that never fades.

Then I try to think of one thing on this earth that does not have a glory that eventually fades. Just last year the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series. This year they will not even make the playoffs. Their glory began to fade the moment it was acheived.

Can you think of anything on this earth that has an ever-increasing glory?

Only people, filled with the Spirit of Jesus, in the process of transformation, have a glory that is increasing. It is a glory not attached to our achievements or records or success, but to our submitting to God's work of transforming us into the likeness of Jesus. It is the glory of Jesus within us, the bright and Morning Star shining through us.

As I get older, the implication is that I should become more glorious. The longer I live the more I should be transformed into the nature of Jesus.

Maybe that is the secret to aging "gracefully." That by the time I am old and frail, I should be as full of the Spirit and glory of Jesus as I have ever been. That while I am "decreasing" in vigor and strength I am "increasing" in the glory of the Lord.

Feeling old today? Good! Becoming more glorious? Great! Thanks be to God for turning clay pots into golden Vessels.

The Ultimate Protestant

"I am, I suppose, a difficult man. I am, maybe, the ultimate Protestant, the man at the end of the Protestant road, for as I have read the Gospels over the years, the belief has grown in me that Christ did not come to found an organized religion but came instead to found an unorganized one. He seems to have come to carry religion out of the temples into the fields an sheep pastures, onto the roadsides and the banks of rivers, into the houses of sinners and publicans, into the town and the wilderness, toward the membership of all that is here. Well, you can read and see what you think."

-Jaber Crow, Barber of the Port William Membership

by Wendell Berry

Hello, still here.

Testing, Testing, Anyone out there? Long time no blog. But I have been doing some great reading lately. Here are the titles that have kept me absorbed all summer:

The Suffering of God by Terence Fretheim. This will shake your foundations.

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson

Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

Jaber Crow by Wendell Berry

A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken

On deck: Evil and the Justice of God and The Challenge of Jesus by N.T. Wright

Good books are such a blessing. Today I honor Mrs. Pruit and Mrs. Goss, my first and second grade teachers who taught me to read.

See Mark run. Cya later.