From the Life-Study of 2 Corinthians - Did You Know Pressures Cause Renewing in 2 Corinthians 4:16?

     It's not always easy to be honest about our experiences.  In chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians Paul tells it like it is, and I find that very encouraging!   But then he ends this section in verse 16 with such an incredible proclamation of not losing heart because all of these pressures are causing us to be renewed. So many times these verses have been like a rope I've held onto! 

  Wherefore we do not lose heart, but if indeed our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16

 In chapter 32 of the Life-Study of 2 Corinthians  Witness Lee uses on pages 286-287 trees losing their leaves in autumn to illustrate this spiritual experience:  

“Also from experience I can testify that something issues from this decaying, this consuming—the renewing of the inward man. Yes, our outward man is decaying, but our inward man is being renewed.  If we had a choice, we would of course choose the renewing and avoid the decaying...This renewing does not merely involve the addition of the divine element into our being.  Our old nature, the outward man, is actually taken away so that the life within us, that is, the Spirit of  life, may have the opportunity to develop" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 2 Corinthians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1982, Print).   

    I love it when spring returns again.  The trees that have been barren for so long are full of new buds just waiting to burst open.  What a marvelous picture God has given us in nature of what He is doing within the believers who spend time with Him each day no matter what's going on!!!

Here's a song I like to listen to when I'm struggling called We Do Not Lose Heart that puts these verses in 2 Corinthians 4 to music.

Here's a link so you can listen to any of the programs on the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee that are on the book of  1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

Other Blogs on the Life Study of 1 & 2 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians:
How did the Lord Solve the Problem Among the Believers in 1 Corinthians?
The Fellowship of the Believers in 1 Corinthians 1:9
What is God's Farm in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
What is God's Building in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
From the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians - How Do the Believers Build With Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones in 1 Corinthians 3:12?
Seeing the Revelation of the Body in 1 Corinthians 12
How Did the Early Believers Meet in 1 Corinthians 14:26?

2 Corinthians:

How Can You Be Like A Letter of Christ in 2 Corinthians 3:2?

What are the Sufferings For in 2 Corinthians 4:7-15?
How Does Transformation Happen in 2 Corinthians 3:18?
From the Life-Study of 2 Corinthians - Did You Know Pressures Cause Renewing in 2 Corinthians 4:16?
Why Do Believers Need to Be Reconciled in 2 Corinthians 5:18?
Giving in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9
Why Didn't the Lord Remove Paul's Thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9?