“To age with grace, we must maintain an eternal perspective.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – September 6, 2025
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, ESV
I write these words on the morning of my 40th birthday, a milestone date by all accounts. As a friend once said upon turning 40, he had reached “the prime of his decline,” and his words ring true in a new way today. Something shifts psychologically with the arrival of 40, sweeping away any lingering illusions of youthfulness and replacing them with the sober reality of middle age.
From AI bots to anti-aging cream, our culture is obsessed with delaying the inevitable reality of our mortality. Yet with each passing year, time has a way of coming for us all, reminding us that you are now a little slower and a little less capable than you were the year before. And though we may be tempted to grieve and lament this reality, St. Paul reminds us that this is nothing more than a “light momentary affliction,” and as such, “we do not lose heart.”
To age with grace, we must maintain an eternal perspective.
If youthful beauty and zeal are what we love and cherish the most, then aging can only be viewed as an unmitigated disaster. Yet when our hearts are set on high with the Lord and we long for that which is unseen but eternal, the trials of this life are seen for what they are: fleeting and temporary, which in Paul’s words, are “preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”
When viewed this way, we are able to encounter the mercy of God within the afflictions of this life. Not that he inflicts pain upon us, but that in his mercy and wisdom, he knows that our temporary trials can transform us into deep people of substance. Do not let your time, attention, and affections be consumed by that which is simply too small. Set your heart on eternity, for it is our true home and where unending joy is to be found.
Prayer
Father, help us age with grace, knowing that the challenges of life are invitations into transformation, becoming people who are prepared for eternity with you, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Application
Take a moment to give thanks to God for the “momentary afflictions” you are enduring, choosing to see them as preparation for the eternal kingdom that will not pass away.
Related Reading
Psalm 90:12; Philippians 3:20–21; Romans 8:18
Worship Resource
The Sing Team: Satisfied in You
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