2 Corinthians 4

"For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  

So death works in us, but life in you.

"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is renewed day by day." 2 Corinthians 4:11-12, 16

The imagery of baptism is always profound to me.  The way we are submerged, symbolizing the death of the old man, and then raised to a new life in Christ is overwhelming.  There is much opportunity for exploration here.

One easy tributary is the "old man."  He is not going to make it.  I heard not too long ago that "life is a fatal disease."  Everybody dies eventually.  I find it interesting that our culture ignores this elephant in the room almost entirely.  Every commercial emphasizes the desirability of youth and stigmatizes the old, warns against disease and attempts to confine our view of the world to where we can spend our money.  Death is game over.  Luckily that is not true for us, just for that old man.

Instead of counting the years as only youth traded for money, we have an opportunity to watch as our life grows in the Lord.  Jesus gave us our new life, and it is bound inextricably to Him.  As He is the source of our life, we can cast off this flesh more and more, "day by day," as we renew our life in the inner man, Christ.  That way, instead of buying in (no pun intended) to culture's view of age and death as terrible things to be avoided, we can look forward to growing deeper into Christ, and living more and more each day.

Powell