Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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 OLD AGE THAT COMBINES FAITH AND EXPERIENCE

Scripture Psalm 71:9, 14-18

"Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails. But as for me ….to this generation, Your power to all who are to come."
 

People say age is just a state of mind and that you are only as old or only as young as you feel inside.  We're not supposed to just kick back and wait for the inevitable when we reach our autumn age; we finally have time, all this wonderful time now. Just doing nothing all day will only lead to a nice funeral. It was discovered that longevity and happiness in our old age requires a purposeful lifestyle with ongoing relationships, and sustained involvement. Just accepting our age can lead to losing the best years of our lives. Don't let ourselves become inactive and resigned, we need to live. God wants us to live out our lives in a meaningful way. And the single best, the most meaningful way to spend these better years of our life is by serving the Lord. Just because we are retired from our old job, we never retire from our spiritual job. We can stay on the front line of the battle, working for the Master. Being here, in this place may actually present us with the time and opportunity to be of greater service than ever before. I know that some of us might be saying, 'But I am too old for that,' but service in God's army has no age limit. Moses was eighty years old when God told him to go get His children out of Egypt. Abraham was seventy-five years old when he obeyed God's command to leave his homeland and serve Him in the land of Canaan.
We are never too old to serve the Lord, and we can definitely never retire from serving Him. When it comes to work of the kingdom, not one of us has earned the right to say "I've served our time". As we saw in our scripture reading, God's Word shatters the myth that once we have reached a certain age that we have "served our time". It also encourages those of us who believe we are too old to serve. This Psalms shows that David never considered himself as retired from serving the Lord and telling people of God's goodness. It's plain to see this was written for those in their senior years when we look at verse 9 which says, "Do not cast me off in the time of old age" David was an old man when he spoke these words and we read that his strength was failing him as well and he pleaded that God not forsake him. When David made this plea to God he didn't doubt that God was with him. David was asking God to continue showing His glory through him as he had always done all his life. David still desired to be used by the Lord. The Psalm says that David never ceased from telling people about God's righteousness and His salvation. Just like David, we should never stop telling people about the salvation that they can find in Jesus Christ. David was unwilling to give up his witness even when old age was stealing his strength. He asked God to never stop using him until he had spoken of the Lord's goodness to his entire generation. David was committed to serving God until the very end of his days. He would never give up trying to reach the people around him with the message of salvation.
If we believe that we are not physically able to serve the Lord in our senior years, then please don't feel down. All we really need is a willing heart and the knowledge that God loves us and sent his only Son to give us the gift of eternal life in God's kingdom.

God wants us to know today, that we are still of great benefit to Him and He still wants to use us for His glory. Just tell of God's saving grace to all whom you meet. I'm not saying that you have to talk about God in every conversation you have, after all even God rested on the seventh day, however what I am saying is no one can ever really retire from serving the Lord. The only ability we really need in order to be of service to God is to know that Jesus Christ died to save us and to declare this knowledge to everyone we meet.

Prayer
Almighty God, use me as a mighty instrument in Your Holy Hands in my golden years to be a fruitful warrior of your Kingdom.

Thought for the Day

The Glory of the young is their strength.. The gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old.
Joseph Mattackal
Long Island Mar Thoma Church

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