There was a time when life separated us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Before we were converted we were so wrapped up in, and dominated by, the things of this world that we were separated by a barrier which, we now admit, we had no power to break. Then the Holy Spirit convicted us of our sin and enabled us to repent by giving us new desires towards God. Looking back, we know that it is certainly possible to be separated from God.
But since we have been converted we have experienced the saving and preserving care of the Lord Jesus. Things present have not come between us and the Saviour. We find the logic of Christ's words unassailable: 'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all: and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand'.
Death will not cause a rift. We may say to ourselves 'If He has saved me at so great a price and won my heart; if He has conquered death and preserved me all these years; shall the Saviour now abandon me when the end of all He aimed to do for me is in sight?' Paul was persuaded by such considerations. Shall we not be fully persuaded in our minds, too?
Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16).
We have been well aware for many years that our bodily life has reached its peak and begun to decline. First it was some physical prowess; then, perhaps years later, some mental processes began to be impaired. We do not, therefore, find it difficult to understand what Paul means when he says that the outward man perishes.
But he also affirms that, side by side with that decline, there is a growth in the soul of the believer. While it is a characteristic of natural things to decline and finally perish, it is the hallmark of that which is spiritual to shine more and more unto the perfect day. It is well with that believer who has watched carefully over such spiritual increase all life long. He has been enabled not to be too concerned with bodily weakness and learned well the Scripture, 'bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come'.
Perhaps you have not known these things because you have never been converted. Were you to be, they would soon be your experience, for never is there such rapid renewal as at the time of conversion. These things could be yours for ever.
There is also a daily renewal. We make a personal daily application to the Saviour for His blessings and receive a daily portion in return. By such things the soul lives and is daily nourished.