My mom was fussing about some aches and pains, so I started teasing her with an old folk song called the Old Gray Mare.  A repeated line in the song says, the old gray mare ain’t what she used to be.

After I sang a line or two of the song, I came to realize there is some theological significance to those words; and, fortunately, I’m not what I used to be.

There are several places that Paul speaks of this change.

• Ephesians 2:  But now through Christ Jesus you, who were once far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ . . . you are no longer foreigners and outsiders but citizens together with God’s people and members of God’s family
• 2 Corinthians 5:17:  Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence.

The Old Gray Mare has a focus on how the old horse is wearing out and breaking down.  Our focus should be on who we are in Christ.  Paul tells us:  God’s kindness overflows in the lives of many people, and it will produce even more thanksgiving to the glory of God.  That is why we are not discouraged. Though outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are renewed day by day.  Our suffering is light and temporary and is producing for us an eternal glory that is greater than anything we can imagine.  We don’t look for things that can be seen but for things that can’t be seen. Things that can be seen are only temporary. But things that can’t be seen last forever (2 Corinthians 4).

Let’s endeavor to renew our minds, so we can be renewed day by day.