Getting Older to the Glory of God - Pt 1

O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. (Psalm 71:17-19 ESV).

Sam Elliott is one of my favorite Western Actors. At least a part of that is the way he looks. There are only two men I know who can wear his style of mustache and really pull it off. Elliott is one and my good friend Jamie McClain is the other. Elliott is five years older than I and Jamie is ten years younger. Both remind me of my “age.” I do like the meme I found recently. I think it’s a great point of view to simply adopt a philosophy of not aging, but “outliving the warranty.” And, it seems to be true. It has been a while since I really have been as good as I once was, though I still cling to the hope that I’m as good once as I ever was! Those thoughts brought me to the next few devotionals dealing with getting old in such a way as to bring God glory; getting old to the glory of God means getting old in a way that makes God look glorious. It means living and dying in a way that shows God to be the all-satisfying Treasure that he is. So it would include, for example, not living in ways that make this world look like our treasure. That, in turn, means that most of the suggestions that this world offers us for our retirement years are not good ones. They call us to live in a way that would make this world look like our treasure. And when that happens, God is diminished. Maybe this thought is merely a result of a very long day yesterday. I started my counseling schedule at 9 am and did not finish until 9pm with one hour of break in that period of time. With a forty-five minute drive home, I was tired when I rolled into the drive. I remind myself that I really want to retire. In fact, I have been resolute in working to get to the place where I can quit. As I reflect on that mindset today I must come to the conclusion that quitting is completer counter to the Scripture. Our reading today gives us a wonderful glimpse into the process of aging, “even to old age and gray hairs.” I think we must come to the conclusion that getting old to the glory of God means resolutely resisting the typical American dream of retirement. It means being so satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Christ that we are set free from the cravings that create so much emptiness and uselessness in retirement. Instead, knowing that we have an infinitely satisfying and everlasting inheritance in God just over the horizon of life ought to make us even more zealous to spend ourselves in the sacrifices of love, not the accumulation of comforts. We look deeper in the coming days. Today, thank God that you are still able to bring him glory whatever your age!