Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by living a godly life. [Proverbs 16:31 (NLT)]
One of the reasons I like living in southwest Florida is that it makes me feel young! Well, not exactly young but at least not as old since there’s always someone around who is older than me! That they frequently inspire me with their spirit and energy is an added benefit! Although most of us Florida seniors are officially retired, God doesn’t have a retirement clause in His contract with us nor does He put us out to pasture just because we’re collecting Social Security. Way older than any of us, He’s not sitting idly back on His heavenly rocking chair taking a well-deserved rest and He doesn’t expect us to do so either!
I always figured that menopause was given to women because God knew if women my age had babies, we’d probably put them down somewhere and forget where we left them! Yet, God blessed Zechariah and Elizabeth with a baby when both were over sixty! I know several seniors who, for a variety of reasons, have assumed the role of parent for their grands or great-grands. At a time in their lives when they expected to sit back and relax, they are dealing with everything from diapers to teen-aged angst, carpooling to algebra, and science projects to play dates. Their blessings have come with a great many challenges but, like Zechariah and Elizabeth, they are doing the job God set before them.
Daniel was over 80 when he faced those lions, Abraham was 75 when God called him to leave Haran for the land of Canaan, and Isaiah served as God’s prophet for 60 years before being executed during Manasseh’s reign. Moses was eighty and Aaron eighty-three when given the task of speaking to Pharaoh. For forty more years, Moses led the Israelites while Aaron served as his second in command. Joshua may have been an active forty-year-old when he explored the land of Canaan but he was eighty when he led the Israelites across the Jordan into the Promised Land.
Age didn’t stop Joshua and it shouldn’t stop any of us from leading others to God’s Promised Land. In spite of his Parkinson’s disease, legendary evangelist Billy Graham conducted crusades until he was 87 and published the last of his 33 books at the age of 97. In the nine years of his papacy, Pope Francis has visited over 50 countries. Last year, in spite of health issues, the 85-year-old journeyed to Iraq, Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia, and Budapest. When 87-year-old Charles Stanley stepped down as senior pastor of Atlanta’s First Baptist Church, he said he didn’t believe in retirement so now he’s dedicating all of his energy to In Touch Ministries. “I just to want to be used to the maximum of my potential through the last day of my life,” said Dr. Stanley. “I can’t even see myself retiring because I have a message, and I can’t wait to tell it to the whole world.”
God doesn’t stop assigning work just because we’ve reached a certain age and old age is never an excuse for not doing what God calls us to do. Granted, physical infirmities may keep us from some jobs, as did Parkinson’s for Reverend Graham, but they’re no excuse for not serving the Lord. There is much we have to offer our church and community, with experience and time being our most valuable assets.
In spite of what the media would have us believe, it is not a sin to grow old. There’s nothing shameful about wrinkles, arthritis, artificial hips, age spots, gray hair, double chins, hearing aids, walkers, or sagging body parts. The sin is not in old age; it is in not making the most of the years with which God has blessed us. Let us continue to flourish and bear fruit until the day God brings us home.
Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t. [Richard Bach]
Back in 2008, my husband and I joined others from our church to see Fireproof, a movie by Alex and Stephen Kendrick. It was about Caleb Holt, a firefighter, who’s urged by a friend and his father to hold off on getting the divorce to which he and his wife have agreed. Counseling him to fight for his crumbling marriage, his father gives him a Christian self-help book called The Love Dare and urges him to go on its forty-day challenge. Having nothing to do with the game “Truth or Dare,” the book dares Caleb to improve his marriage, not by changing his wife, but by changing the way he treats her. After completing the forty day challenge, Caleb continues changing his behavior and he and his wife eventually reconcile. As I remember, the movie ends with them renewing their marriage vows. Several months after seeing the movie, I spotted The Love Dare book while browsing through a bookstore. Whether the movie gave birth to the book or the book gave birth to the movie, I don’t know. In any case, I purchased it and, without my husband knowing, took on its 40-day challenge.
When we spotted some Sandhill Cranes last week, I recalled the cranes we frequently saw when we lived in rural Illinois. In the fall, flocks of them could be found eating the crop residue remaining from the recently harvested fields. As they gleaned the corn fields, I thought of the words in Deuteronomy and Leviticus directing the Israelites to deliberately leave some produce behind for those less fortunate—the people who wouldn’t have land of their own from which to harvest. Allowing the poor to maintain their dignity as they labored in the fields, rather than a handout, the gleaning was considered a rightful opportunity to improve their lives. The command to leave left-overs from the harvest for the poor was not to be taken lightly. In fact, if nothing remained in his fields following harvest, a landowner could be punished.
Nowadays, we tend to think of “religion” as the institutionalized system of religious principles, beliefs, ceremonies, and practices to which we’re committed. The religion of which James spoke, however, isn’t limited to things like denomination or synod, liturgy, traditions, rituals, or special observances. Religion, as used by James, is the belief in, service to, and worship of God and encompasses our entire being. The ERV’s translation as “worship,” the NIRV’s as “beliefs and way of life,” the NTE’s and CEB’s of “devotion,” and even the Passion’s translation as “true spirituality” better capture James’ meaning. He is telling us that real religion is our way of life—the way we express our devotion to God hour after hour, day after day, in all that we think, speak, and do.
Created in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Doomsday Clock’s purpose is to show the world how close it is to destroying itself with technology. Midnight on the clock indicates world-wide catastrophe and the end of the world as we know it. When it was reset for 2022 last week, the good news is that it’s no closer to midnight than last year. The bad news is that we remain at doom’s doorstep with only 100 seconds until midnight!
Yesterday’s devotion got me thinking more about the movie War Room. Elizabeth is a woman whose marriage is crumbling and Miss Clara is a fervent prayer warrior. Clara could easily have done her “Christian duty” for Elizabeth by offering to pray for the young woman’s marriage in her “war room” of prayer. Instead, Clara asks Elizabeth to give her one hour a week and offers to teach her how to fight for her marriage with the right weapons. With her offer, Clara lays herself open to rejection, being called a busybody (or worse) and the inconvenience and challenges that come whenever we become enmeshed in another person’s messy life. In short, Clara does more than pray for this troubled woman—she takes action.
Devotions of the Heart 