The Spirit renews the believers by dispensing the newness of Christ's resurrection life into the believers' inward being (Rom. 6:4). The Spirit's dispensing imparts the life element of Christ's resurrection into our being. This is our need every day. The reason that we pray, read the Word, and pray-read the Word is that we need the continuous dispensing of the Spirit with the resurrection life element of Christ into our being. When we have this dispensing, our need is met in every way.
The Spirit dispenses the element of Christ's resurrection life into the believers' inward being through the consuming of the believers' environment (2 Cor. 4:16). Our outer man is decaying, that is, being consumed. The environment around us works to consume us. The husband consumes the wife, the wife consumes the husband, the parents consume the children, and the children consume the parents. The roommates also consume one another. A new pair of shoes, a haircut, or good health also may consume us. Everything in our environment consumes us.
The Lord is sovereign. We do not need to worry. We should simply continue to contact Him and open ourselves to Him. He is within us to dispense God, Christ, life, and the consummated God as the Spirit into us. In this way we are renewed, and we become a new creation. I am glad that I have been under the consuming of my environment for many years. This consuming has caused me to be renewed very much. Through the consuming of our environment, the outer man is decaying, but the inner man is being renewed.
This renewing makes the believers practically God's new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." This is a declaration, but it is not very practical until we have been consumed. After being consumed to some extent, we become, at least in part, a new creation. The more we remain in the Lord, the more we will be consumed. This consuming helps to make us a new creation in a practical way.
The renewing of the believers by the Holy Spirit will consummate in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2, 9-11). In the holy city, New Jerusalem, there will be no clay and no dust. The New Jerusalem will be a composition of gold, pearls, and precious stones. These three precious materials are not clay; thus, they do not produce any dust. But today all human beings, including Christians, are still very "dusty." As long as our body has not been transfigured, we are still dusty. Because we are still clay, the longer we remain with one another, the more dust we produce. But when we enter into the New Jerusalem, we will be pearls and precious stones. This will be the result of the renewing of the consummated Spirit of the Triune God.
Today our God is a consummated God, a processed God, as the very Spirit. This Spirit indwells us to dispense God into our being throughout the day. The element that He dispenses into our being replaces our old element and discharges all the old element. In this way we are not only changed but renewed. We are not simply washed and purged; we are renewed. The old things are carried away, and the new element comes in to replace the old element. This is renewing.