“The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.”–Proverbs 16:31
In the midst of a youth-obsessed culture where people go to great lengths to hang on to youth chemically, surgically, and psychologically, it is easy to forget how much God values wise and godly men and women in their later years. These elders in the faith, those who have walked with God for many years, have great wisdom to impart both to their own families and to those who are younger in the faith. Rather than dreaded growing old, we should rejoice in the opportunities it presents.
In his book The Best Is Yet To Be Henry Durbanville wrote, “I feel so sorry for folks who don’t like to grow old…I revel in my years. They enrich me…I would not exchange…the abiding rest of soul, the measure of wisdom I have gained from the sweet and bitter and perplexing experiences of life; nor the confirmed faith I now have in the…love of God, for all the bright and uncertain hopes and tumultuous joys of youth. Indeed, I would not! These are the best years of my life…The way grows brighter; the birds sing sweeter; the winds blow softer; the sun shines more radiantly than ever before. I suppose ‘my outward man’ is perishing, but ‘my inward man’ is being joyously renewed day by day.”
For our later years to be godly ones, we must walk in the way of righteousness during our young and middle years. Many of the people in the Bible who suffered serious moral failures—Noah, Judah, David, and others—were in the latter part of their lives when they sinned greatly. They abandoned the glory of old age and the consistency of their testimony for momentary pleasure. We should heed these examples as a caution of the need to finish well in our Christian walk.–Dr. Paul Chappell
