renew

As another year of my begins, I feel that I need to be renewed, by spirit and by mind. I can't dwell on the things of the past and I must look forward everyday.

I was reading one of Witness Lee's sermons on being renewed day by day. He makes me smile when I read it because of his frequent use of the word "metabolically". To metabolically transform, to metabolically renew :P. I'm such a science nerd.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 1 Corinthians 4:16

Outwardly wasting away, well my situations in my life are probably not as severe as what Paul is going through while writing Corinthians, however, relatively speaking, I sometimes do feel like I'm wasting away. Have you ever thought about what we're in school for? Why we must trudge through all these assignments, reports, and essays? Why we need to rack our brains for an exam worth 40% of our final mark? We could be praising God 24/7 if not for wretched school or work. Why do we have to go through so much emotional pain? Why can't our marks be reflective of how much time we put into our studying?

This is because “our momentary lightness of affliction works out for us, more and more surpassingly, an eternal weight of glory” (v. 17). The suffering that we pass through to be renewed does not compare with the glory of our being new. Actually, the Christian life is not a suffering life. The Christian life is a life of being renewed day by day. Still, this renewing is by suffering. God does not like to see His children suffering, but we have to go through the process of suffering.

and so,

In Matthew 13:43 the overcomers are likened to the sun shining forth in the kingdom of their Father. The sun rises afresh every morning. If we are to be the overcomers, the sun, we must also rise up every morning to be revived by the Lord. Proverbs 4:18 says, “But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (ASV). We should follow the sun to be revived and to have a new start every morning. Our path is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the full day. I like Paul’s expression in 2 Corinthians 4:16—“day by day.” The Christian life does not only have one day. We are being renewed day by day. This means that day after day we have to be revived by the Lord. Yesterday morning we may have had a revival, but this morning we need another one, and tomorrow we need another one. Every year we need three hundred sixty-five revivals to be renewed day by day.

I love how Witness puts it. Usually, a revival is a one time thing, say at a big event, maybe tc? passion? one thing? but what he says here is that revival is an everyday thing. without revival everyday, how can we shine for God's glory?

We must trust Him to bring us through every day, to guide all our daily actions and to bring us closer to his purpose for us by everything we go through. When we spend our quiet time with God, he is renewing us in spirit and in mind. This year, I want to be renewed day by day, living my life with a passion for Christ.