Do You Focus More Time on Your Physical Appearance or Internal Character?

A Few Thoughts to Consider

How much time do you spend focused on your body?

The older we get, the more difficult life can become because our bodies start to break down. When Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, he was not as concerned about the human body's natural breakdown as he was about the physical attacks from others. In 2 Corinthians chapters 3 and 4, the Apostle Paul contrasts the old covenant of the law with the new covenant of the Spirit. Then, in 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, he writes,

⁷ Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; ⁹ we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body.

As Murray Harris writes, “Paul is not disparaging the human body or implying that the body is simply the receptacle of the soul. Rather, he is contrasting the relative insignificance and unattractiveness of the bearers of the light with the inestimable worth and beauty of the light itself.”^[1] That God chooses to reveal himself through broken human vessels is truly wondrous.

As Kent Hughes writes, “Christians are never powerful in themselves but are only vessels in which God’s power is exhibited. Paul is speaking primarily of himself, but the truth he teaches is true for every follower of Christ. Our utter frailty and weakness provides the ground for God’s power.”^[2] Hughes continues by stating:

It is easy to misread what Paul says here so that we interpret it as the means of enhancing our power. Thus we may imagine that as we embrace our weakness God will pour his power into us so that we become powerful. The natural equation is: My weakness plus God’s power equals my power.