Our Bible verse for today: “Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.” Job 12:12 (CSB)
Our thought for today: “You have a lot left to give.”
I’m deeply grateful to God for some of the older people He has strategically placed into my life over the years. They were godly men and women who had lived lives of faithfulness and who had acquired great wisdom through the years. And they were people who loved me enough to use their wisdom and experience to help me learn and grow.
There was Oren and Louise Teel. Oren was my pastor, my father in the faith, and my mentor in ministry. Louise was everyone’s grandmother and I considered her to be my west coast mother. There was Dick DeGrow, a retired pastor who served as a deacon, Sunday school teacher, and custodian in the first church I was the pastor of. Dick was instrumental in helping me to learn how to be a pastor. In another church there was Jane Fish, a pastor’s wife, the former manager of a Christian bookstore, and a writer of curriculum for the Southern Baptist Sunday school Board. She was my prayer partner, fellow book-lover, a confidant, and a great source of counsel.
Over and over again throughout the years, right up until this present day, God has always strategically placed one or two older and wiser men and women to serve as a source of counsel for me. Not only am I grateful to God for providing those men and women to guide and teach me, but I’m grateful to them for remaining available. Not everyone does that in their old age.
All too often I see older people withdraw from life in general, and even from participation in the life of their church. Sometimes they retreat to the four walls of their home and live like a shut-in – when they’re really not. What a great loss! They have so much left to contribute! The church needs your wisdom. We need to learn from your experiences. There are men and women, boys and girls, who need to be around you so they can learn from you.
A life well spent is a life that is fully lived right up until the day it ends. As you age the kinds of activities you can be involved in necessarily change. That’s okay, but don’t retreat from life in general, and certainly do not withdraw from the life of your church. You have a lot left to give and we need you!
Oak Hill Baptist Church