“They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.”–Psalm 92:14   I have often said, “Old age ain’t for sissies!” Life is tough and it gets tougher each passing year. Sadly, many folks get discouraged and waste away the last years of life. The following story from Senior Living gives us some good advice:

There’s a story about a young mother who died giving birth to her third child. No one in the family was willing to take care of the three little girls, except their great-grandmother who came forward without hesitation. When she took them into her home, she was 83 years old. By God’s grace, she lived another 16 years before passing on at the age of 99-long enough to parent each of the young girls into their teenage years and early 20s.

This is an amazing and inspiring example of the reality of retirement. After retirement, there is more to life than golf, easy chairs, your favorite daily television shows, and boredom. People today are living longer than ever before and it is estimated that by 2030 there will be more people over the age of 65 than those who are under the age of 18.

Almost two million people retire every year, leaving many people freed up to perform acts of kindness for others. Contributing to their long lives is good health, financial stability, and life experiences. As a result, many senior adults are ready and looking for challenging and meaningful pursuits in their older age.

You may not be in a situation like the one mentioned above, but there are some things you can do as a Christian senior adult. You are called to always be a prayer warrior for the people in your life (Ephesians 6:18), and retirement provides more time for this type of thing as well as volunteering your time in your church or neighborhood. Decide that you are going to be a blessing to others who need it. When you begin to creatively use your time, God will bring blessing into your life (Hosea 10:12).

Pray that the Lord would make you a blessing in someone’s life today through giving of your time, your talents, and your prayers

“He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8).

What does GOD expect us to do? He tells us here. What He said to all men everywhere must, by faith, be applied to us in particular.

Through the pages of the Bible, GOD speaks to me. Observe that GOD doesn’t require us to pay for the pardon of our sin, but He requires us to do what is good. Agreeable to the eternal rule and reason of good and evil, the good required of us has a direct tendency to our own good. And so, “in keeping God’s commandments there is a great reward” for the present as well as for the future.

Doing our duty is the good GOD requires of us. He said, “Do justly,” that is, do what is right to all people – wrong no one. “Love mercy,” that is, be kind to all people.

We must not only show mercy but also love mercy; we must be glad of an opportunity to do good and then do it cheerfully. Since God delights in showing mercy to us, shouldn’t we love to show mercy? We must “walk humbly” with our GOD. In the whole course of our lives, we must conform ourselves to the will of GOD and study to approve ourselves to Him. We must humbly submit our minds to the truths of GOD; we must submit our will to His Word and providences; we must humble ourselves to walk with GOD.

Every thought must be brought into obedience to GOD.

In GOD’s sight, justice, mercy, and humility are more than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices. Our most costly services are vain oblations unless we do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our GOD. (Matthew Henry)

“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”–Proverbs 27:17   The following quote by Phillip Brooks reminds us of how greatly we affect others–let it then be for the good:   Certainly, in our own little sphere it is not the most active people to whom we owe the most. Among the common people whom we know, it is not necessarily those who are busiest, not those who, meteor-like, are ever on the rush after some visible charge and work. It is the lives, like the stars, which simply pour down on us the calm light of their bright and faithful being, up to which we look and out of which we gather the deepest calm and courage. It seems to me that there is reassurance here for many of us who seem to have no chance for active usefulness. We can do nothing for our fellow-men. But still it is good to know that we can be something for them; to know (and this we may know surely) that no man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle, pure, and good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness.

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept th faith:”(2 Timothy 4:7)

I’ve been around long enough to know some men and women whose lives were totally sold out to God a few years ago but who have since walked off the track in the middle of the race. They’ve given up. They’ve lost their longing for God and all He is. They’re AWOL from the Christian life . . .

The fear of following in their footsteps haunts me. It should you, too. The possibility is real for all of us unless we allow our hearts to be completely gripped by God . . . today- now. The faithfulness of my walk with God in the next year and the next decades depends on my willingness to stay current with God. In a word-to stay in relationship with Him.

I never want to lose the grip God’s greatness has on my life and the supreme privilege it is to be in relationship with Him and to serve Him faithfully till the day I am welcomed into His presence. That passion compels me. It keeps me very honest and very humble before God.

The last thing I want to do is crawl across the finish line a defeated, derailed Christian or worse-give up the race before my life is over. I want to break that tape with arms high and my face to the sun and say with the apostle Paul, “I have finished the course; I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 3:7).

So what can we do now to ensure that finish line victory? We can get back to basics: Honestly answer these seven questions:

Do I hunger after God?
Does God’s Word govern my life?
Do I grieve over sin?
How quickly do I repent when I see my wrong?
Am I sensitive to the Spirit’s prompting me?
Do I obey?
Is my faith growing?

Return to these questions regularly and ask God to help you every morning to run the race.(James MacDonald)

“And be not weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.”(Galatians 6:9)   In the leaflet Keep on Keeping On, Leslie B. Flynn tells of a man who handed out gospel tracts on a street corner. After years of not seeing anyone trust Christ as Savior, he quit.

Two years later he happened to pass that same familiar corner and saw a person handing out tracts. He walked over to the stranger and struck up a conversation. He learned that a little more than 2 years earlier the man had become a Christian after reading a tract he had received at that corner.

“Many a time I’ve come back here to find the man to thank him,” said the stranger, “but he never came back. So I decided he must have died and gone to his reward. That’s why I’ve taken his place!”

If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, God will give you by His Spirit the power to persevere. Don’t give up. Keep up the good work!

Never forget–“your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”(1 Cor. 15:58)