Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Confidence”
Our Bible verse for today: “The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is their gray hair.” Proverbs 20:29
Our thought for today: “Have the confidence to age gracefully.”
She was a bar fly. The woman was in her mid-50s but was trying hard to look 30. Her short dress was way too tight, she wore an excessive amount of jewelry, and she used far too much make-up. Evidently she thought this made her attractive. She seemed oblivious to the fact that the excessive make-up made her look clownish, and the tight dress simply highlighted and revealed all the belly-rolls and varicose veins. Undeterred, she flirted shamelessly with men half her age.
Then there’s the guy, also in his 50s, dressed-out in the baggy pants, pony tail, ear ring, and ball cap on backwards. He’s a white man but he tries hard to act black. “Yo bro, you down with that?”
It’s always a sad spectacle when an older person hasn’t learned how to age gracefully. They look and act ridiculous and everybody knows it (everybody except them).
One of the things a mature Christian faith does for us is it gives us the confidence to embrace and enjoy all the seasons of life – maybe especially old age. While it’s true that as we age our physical body begins to break down and we therefore we experience aches and pains we probably didn’t have in younger years. But it’s also true that the passing of the years brings with it many advantages and bonuses. For one thing, we should be much more spiritually mature, and therefore experiencing the fruits of the Spirit much more than when we were younger.
Old age also usually brings with it a transition from the working years into some kind of retirement, and that affords us new freedoms and flexibility which we didn’t have in other seasons of life.
And of course, if you are a Christian and you therefore have the promise of eternity in heaven, then each day of life brings you one day closer to your eventual eternal reward.
Many people never have the privilege of growing old. For those of us who do get that privilege, we should be thankful for it and we should learn to appreciate and enjoy it. I remember a line from a poem I read many years ago regarding aging. It went, “Come with me, the best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made.”
I encourage you to age gracefully and with dignity. Thank God for the privilege of growing old and then fully embrace and enjoy it.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 