Growing old has its advantages. If you know the LORD Jesus Christ you are minute by minute closer to being with Him for eternity!
You have lived long enough to make mistakes in life, sin, and have experienced the great mercy, grace, love of God towards you. Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”-{John 17:24}. “Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy,”-{Jude v 24}. His desire and delight is that you, a follower of the LORD Jesus be with Him!
You have experienced God’s comfort in times of pain, restoration, peace in anxious times You have known heartaches and heartbreaks, times of great sorrow and hurt, times of joy and wellbeing. You have lived it seems several life times in your life, Changing chapters in your life of various types, experiences.
But You also have a history to look back on to trace His hand in the circumstances of your life. You have a catalogue of answered prayers. And His mercy in not giving you what you had asked for as you look back it would have been in some cases a disaster
Prayer is no longer something you do, or a last minute plea for help, but a steady grip on your life, a dependency upon Him as He has and continues to wean you off self- reliance as Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:9 shows- to God dependency! Prayer is not an “accessory “ but a necessity!
Growing old does not mean giving up but like Caleb of old a tenacity of faith as trusting God, His Word and His pomises, as you move forward,-{Read Joshua 14:6-15}. Growing old also has with it regrets but they must not master your thinking. You can’t go back but you can go on, still influencing the lives of others whether by word and deeds or prayer as you finish strong seeking as the priority of your latter days seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness! Growing old has its advantages such as growing wiser and the fact God still has you here shows He is not finished with using you in the lives of others, for His sake
Growing old has its advantages.
I’m Sitting in a wheelchair under a shady tree sheltering from the sun, in my front yard and thought of “ Growing old has its advantages,” I began to write.
We can grow old but need not grow cold, indifferent or distracted. But looking to Jesus. The author and perfecter of our faith who has brought us this far to keep going about the Master’s Business.
I love Psalm 71:17-18. An elderly man in trouble and looks back down through the corridor of his life and sees the troubles but traces the Faithfulness of God to him and his cry is not one of deliverance but one of opportunity to invest into others and the next generation in testifying of God’s Faithfulness and character. ”
“God, You have taught me from my youth,
And I still declare Your wondrous deeds.
And even when I am old and gray, God, do not abandon me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.”
We can be assured from Hebrews 13:5 God will never, leave or abandon us, so let us who are in that older generation do likewise declaring the LORD, His character to this generation and those to come. Seizing the opportunities with perhaps others in the latter stage of their life who have no hope who have no relationship with the LORD Jesus and an eternal hell before them , we have good news Let us share!
Growing old has its advantages!
God Bless,
Aidan.