I love seeing gray-haired saints ministering in our nurseries and classrooms! (Especially now that I am quickly becoming one of them.) Personally, my family has been, and continues to be, greatly ministered to by mature older believers. This should be the norm in our churches. Consider these statements from Pastor Clint Archer in his new book, The Home Team: God’s Game Plan for the Family:
- Indeed, the Scriptures present with unvarnished realism the physical troubles that accompany aging (Ecclesiastes 12:1-8). But the Bible also admonishes us to be good stewards of our life experience and the wisdom that comes only with age. Psalm 92:12-15 stands in stark contrast to the “planned obsolescence” of our world’s modern retirement mindset:
The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the LORD;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
to declare that the LORD is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
- People with real life experience have much more credibility when they proclaim the goodness and faithfulness of God. Consider the power of this statement coming from an aged David: “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread” (Psalm 37:25).
- …God gives the gift of wisdom to older people so that they can share their wisdom with younger generations. In Titus 2:2-5, Paul assumes that younger people lack the knowledge and experience that older people have, so he encourages the more mature believers to teach and train and set an example for younger people. Those in the church who have been blessed with many years should occupy themselves in passing down wisdom in this way.
(Image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)
