The most prominent actor, the most prolific painter, the politician, even the plumber and the baker, as time moves on, as old age approaches, their abilities dwindle, both physically and many times mentally.
Does this hold true for men of God?
Two verses for you then.
“Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.” (Psalm 71:9)
And,
“And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” (Deut. 34:7)
Few of us will be as Moses when the grinders begin to cease, but I believe this verse holds truth as well.
“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (2nd Peter 3:18)
Everyday men of God learn something new about the Almighty, every day He reveals something about Himself to us that we did not know the day before. There may come a day when the timbers begin to shake too much for us to walk, the eye may grow too dim for us to be able to read His Word anymore, but each day we grow, we are drawn closer to His throne as this world begins to fade away.
The steps, so to speak, towards that throne are looked forward to with greater anticipation, and with that comes the urgency within us to reach just one more soul, to encourage just one more of our brethren in the Lord.
“The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.” (Prov. 10:7)
Not so with those who have rejected the offering of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they begin in a sense to simply fade away. The sports star is all but forgotten, the beauty of the film star wanes, and all that is left to them are memories. To these, an old song line can be applied, and many of them wish it would have happened to them.
“It’s better to burn out than to fade away.”
They may continue to try as they get older, as they see their own sun beginning to set on the horizon, but they know they cannot go back to whatever glory days they experienced as they keep replaying those memories in their minds.
“But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Prov. 4:18)
This is not to say that the Living God has guaranteed health and wealth as our own sun begins to set here, recall Lazarus at the rich man’s gate, the dimness of Jacob’s eyes, but the light that shines brighter in those who have been crucified with Christ has nothing to do with the flesh, it is the heart that seeks to see the Almighty glorified that glows brilliantly, even the soul is not concerned if the mind begins to deteriorate.
There is not fear, but what I will call trepidation for the man of God as he reaches the days of gray hairs, it is not towards death, that is expected and even welcomed, but towards the burden he may become for others. There is little he can do about this, and in all reality, what he sees as a burden may be an incredible blessing upon the one it is placed upon.
For the wicked, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb. 10:31)
For those the Most High calls His own, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)
Don’t look back my friends, if the Lord Jesus Christ is the singular reason for your life, don’t look back, you will not find Him there, He is ahead, leading you.
Another line from an old song for you, one I just happened to see the now old man sing who wrote it years ago, when the sun was shining bright in his life. I wonder if he would understand any of this letter to you.
“Glory days, pass me by.”
Ours are yet to come, trillions upon trillions of years of them.
Look forward to that last sunset in your life, the One who is leading you to it, the eternal Son, shines forever in your heart.
