Getting Older to the Glory of God - Pt 2

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6-8 ESV).

It has been six months since having some stents put in, so a follow-up appointment with the cardiologist was scheduled this week. I don’t know if I need to get an older doctor or just go with the flow. My doctor is one of the best in the area; however, being young he is still in good shape. Maybe he will be forever. That I don’t know. I do know that the conversation led to the prescription of a strict diet so that I can lose some of the weight I have gained over the last few years. Believe me when I say it is more than just giving up Blue Bell! I wish that I had the Garfield quote in our meme today when he told me I was too fat. However, with all of that said, I am taken to a second principle in our short examination of getting old to the glory of God. I find it very common as we age that we are tempted to fear that we will not persevere in treasuring Christ and loving people. We won’t be able to say with Paul in our reading today that “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Our eternal reward of final righteousness will come to us as we have sought to love his appearing and treasured him above all other things. This treasuring of Christ must be included in our consciousness. That’s simply a part of our faith; it includes treasuring Christ and his appearing. You don’t have faith if you don’t want Jesus. So, one great obstacle to getting old to the glory of God is the fear that we can’t maintain this treasuring of Christ. We fear we’re not going to make it. And the main reason that this fear of not persevering in faith and love is an obstacle to getting old to the glory of God is that the two most common ways of overcoming this fear are deadly. There are two opposite ways to ruin your life in trying to overcome this fear. One is to assume that perseverance in faith and love is not necessary for final salvation. And the other is to assume that perseverance is absolutely necessary, and then depend on our efforts in some measure to fulfill that necessity and to secure God’s favor. Tomorrow I’ll look at each of these ends of the spectrum. However, today recognize that both these are devastatingly misguided and deadly. Make an intentional effort to both rely completely on the grace and strength of God as you reflect His presence in your life, whatever your chronological age!