Better With Age

The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old. (Proverbs 20:29 NIV)

My father-in-law, Gary, recently turned 80 years old. That fact is a bit hard for me to wrap my mind around for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that he also recently spent a week hanging drywall with me in my house. At 80, he can still outwork many men decades his junior, and the knowledge he has gained with experience is priceless. His Christ-honoring and active life makes it awfully difficult to think of him as “old”.

Gary has long been a role model for me, and that impact has only increased in the 18 years since my own father died. In a world in which many lack worthy father figures, God has blessed me with two. The years have deepened my love and appreciation of both of them, and my regard for Gary has only grown as his years have increased. He is a wonderful picture of living wholeheartedly for the Lord in retirement.

As I consider the ways the Lord has used my father-in-law, even his “golden years” shine as an example of reflecting the reality of Christ through relationships.

Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:32 NIV)

Since the second half of the twentieth century, our culture has increasingly idolized youth and treated aging with contempt. We celebrate looking, feeling, and acting young above all. Commercials mock parents and old people. Gray hair or wrinkles are to be avoided at all costs. Marketing targets the young, persuades the old to pretend to be young, and promotes the immediate gratification historically identified with youthful folly as a virtue to be sought by all. It’s as if old age is the worst thing that can happen to a person…even worse than death in the eyes of many.

Let’s not pretend that aging is easy or that any of us love the aches, pains, and other issues that naturally come along with it. The process of aging is intrinsically tied to death and sin. Sin brought death and decay into God’s previously perfect Creation; if there were no sin, there would be no death, no breakdown, no aging as we know it. Nonetheless, there is a glory in age that cannot be found in youth.

Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life. (Proverbs 16:31 ESV)

The Lord determines the length of our days, even as He orders our steps. A long life is a blessing from God. Whether long or short, our years are His, to be used for His purposes and His glory. There is no expiration date on making ourselves a living sacrifice for the Lord, and there is a greatness in investing all our days to serve God’s purpose in our generation.

Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days. (Job 12:12 ESV)

Not every senior citizen is wise, but there is a wisdom available to the aged that cannot be known by the young. There is a maturity that can only be found with experience.

I heard a retired pastor I know give a presentation on his experience hiking the Appalachian trail. Pastor Craig had hiked parts of the trail before, but hiking the whole of it was a different animal. The full through-hike is nearly 2200 miles and takes 5-7 months. Most people who start do not complete it. Though my friend was no rookie on the trail, he confessed that he would not have made it had it not been for veteran guides who had made the full hike before. They had seen and learned things that can only really be known by doing. Now, having made this grueling hike, Pastor Craig serves as a guide to others, sharing his wisdom with those who can benefit from his experience.

This is precisely the picture we find in the Bible. Older men and women in the church are responsible to mentor and instruct their juniors in Christian living. Younger men and women are responsible to honor and submit to their elders. We live, we learn, we serve, and we teach. The Lord’s clear command for all of us is to honor our elders, and to live as elders worthy of honor. The way we serve others may change over the years, but there is no retirement from serving the Lord and His church.

The nature of Christ’s church is intergenerational by design. God’s people must resist the cultural pressure to idolize youth and its trappings at the expense of age, wisdom, and maturity. We must actively choose to recognize and value the intrinsic worth of advancing years.  Above all, we must glorify God together, loving each other and working in concert to reflect the reality of Christ through the relationships He gives us.