Jesus' Family Album December 30 Devotional

2 CORINTHIANS 4:16 | ¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.

Cynicism is endemic in our world. Many problems in politics and economics are hard to understand and harder to solve. As human beings our reach exceeds our grasp, and we never seem to accomplish as much as we intend. Our deeds don’t measure up to our best intentions and we sense we are marred by flaws and habits and selfish attitudes that are hard to change let alone eradicate. Cynicism is also fed by the brevity of our lives. We aren’t very far into our journeys before we feel ourselves aging, our abilities and energy degrading, as we experience the diminishment of age that leads to death.

Jesus, however, is our antidote to cynicism. As the outer person wastes away, St. Paul remarks with a bracing realism, the inner person is renewed every day. Freshness of soul and heart and
attitude can accompany the onward march of years when the Holy Spirit has sway in us and we trust that God will make our bodies and our world perfect and whole and ever new.

Do you ever fight cynicism?

Gracious God,

Help me age with grace and humor, knowing your renewal is at work within me.

Amen.