Verse of the Day for October 20

Two things are happening to Paul at once, and only one of them shows. Our outward man perish, he says. Everyone can see that part. The tiredness, the scars, the grey hair, the body slowing down.

The other part is hidden: the inward man is renewed day by day. Nobody photographs that. Nobody comments on it. Often you cannot feel it yourself. But Paul says it is happening on the same days the outward decline is happening.

Day by day is a quiet phrase. It is not a single dramatic recovery. It is a small renewal, given in the morning and used up by night, then given again.

Verse fifteen adds something surprising. Paul's endurance is not only for him. It is so that grace, through the thanksgiving of many, might overflow to the glory of God. People you will never meet may thank God because you kept going when nobody noticed.

If you are caring for an ageing parent, washing clothes no one will mention, sitting up at night with a feverish child, the outward cost is easy to count. The inward renewal is harder to see, but it is real, and it comes again tomorrow.

God is renewing you on the same days you feel yourself wearing out.

Unseen faithfulness is still seen by him.