Golden Age (Old) Age
Appreciation & Blessings! by Captain Kelly
Durant 5-27-12
1- Titus 2:2,3 2 That the aged men be sober, grave,
temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.3 The aged women likewise,
that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given
to much wine, teachers of good things; 4 That they may teach the young women to
be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
Lev 19:3232 Thou shalt
rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy
God: I am the LORD.
2-Tell me something
that is not valuable when it is old? You can find old cars, old furniture, old
mansions, paintings, practically anything old is valuable, right?
There is a quote in
English that says: And No wise man ever wished to be any younger! There are a
lot of benefits to growing old, but I mean growing mature in the Lord! But like they say, wrinkles should be on the
face, not on the heart!
3-Let’s think about how
many people are in the Bible that God waited until they were old to use them
for a great work!
Noah, Moses, Abraham
and Sarah, and there are many more! Think about the ones who when they were
young they messed things up. Esau, Samson, even King David! Age and experience
certainly contribute to God being able to use us more readily. Maturity usually
means one is more educated, more informed, more wise to make decisions, and
more careful and slow to not do terrible mistakes!
4-That scripture in
Tit. 2 tells the elderly to be serious, Why? Because some are not! Serious (which
means they are using their time to be productive, not wasting time on games and
distractions), temperate (which means living life in balance, not exaggerated
in any area), strong in faith (which comes over time after years of study of
the word of God), love and patience (Older people should display their soft
hearts full of love for all and patient with all).
Apart from honoring the
elders, notice how in so many places it mentions we are to include not just the
men but the women as well. 2 Timothy 1:5 When I call to remembrance the
unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and
thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
Now revert back to the
last part of the verses of Titus 2: 4 where it mentions the women who are
mothers and grandmothers. 4 That they may
teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their
children, The idea is that the older women are respected as teachers explaining
about good family relations as well. Who here does that? A few of you do that!
And if not?
5-Today, sadly, we have
a generation of kids that disrespect the elderly and their parents, and
according to the 10 commandments to honor your father and your mother, if a
child insulted his parents breaking this commandment, he was to be stoned to
death! God is serious about us respecting those that are older! But today the
laws of man seem to protect the rebellious?!
Do you want to know how
a young person shows they are mature? When suddenly they want to be around
older people so they can learn from them! This usually happens about college
age when young people realize professors and older people are not so dumb after
all, they actually have learned a lot! And the older ones should always be
ready to teach the lessons of life!
6-It is the job of the
young to learn from the aged and experienced and the older ones should be willing
teachers! That is willing if they are close to the Lord! You lived all those
years and all you know can benefit many people, so all the elder here need to
consider they have a job in our Corps, they should be mentors to the younger.
That is what the Word commands us to do and we need to retain the mentality of
respect for our elders!
There are many articles
about how we age and most of them are positive and state how people often get
more mellow, worry less, more friendly, more happy and less worried, and even
more productive. Later in life many people go on to accomplish great things in
business, in writing, in service to the community. Old age, or maturity, is a
blessing from God!
7-God waits for
maturity and see how He has acted throughout the Bible history. He called
Abraham and Sarah when they were old to raise their son of the promise. He
called Moses when he was 40 but he was still too young and impulsive and he
didn’t call him again until he had watched sheep for another 40 years, and he
went to free the children of Israel at age 80! Many of God’s prophets were not
used by God until they had become aged men or women. It is not the age of the
body that matters as much as the maturity of the spirit and how much you have
learned to obey God’s ways. When I was young I often prayed, Lord make me
mature, I need it!
It is God’s plan that
we all grow more mature in our faith, holiness, and love. There are some people
that get older but still make the same mistakes over and over though, and that
is because they are not seeking God every day. Some people, usually the non-Christian
ones, get older but not wiser. Let’s
look up. Prov 16:31 The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the
way of righteousness.
8-In other words, if
you are old with grey hair, and you are close to the Lord, living in
righteousness, you are wearing a crown of glory! But the older ones must live
in the path of righteousness, and that is a purity that comes after years of
practicing righteousness & holiness. White heads should be symbolic of
whitened spirits!
In my time here with
the Salvation Army I have meet many older and retired Officers and what I have
seen is amazing. They are an usually sharp bunch! I have seen some retire at 65
and keep working another 20 years! And just like some of you here, your memory
of Bible stories and of life’s experiences is lucid. I’d say the average life
span of a US Officer right now must be at least 85, and many even more! Even
though we live a busy stressful life for the Lord, it is as though the Lord
blesses us with length of days for serving Him. Look up…
9-Ps 92:13 15
13 Those that be
planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and
flourishing;15 To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no
unrighteousness in him.
Let’s go back to verse 3
The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not
false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; Here it talks
about not being false accusers. Or in other words , v15 “and there is no
unrighteousness in him.”
Basically that means
not to manipulate others with invented stories. Before people would drink a lot
of wine apparently and today some people take too many antidepressant
prescription pills that are even stronger than wine! The idea is to be
respected for being sober, not high & crazy!
10-In my life, as in
yours, you have met thousands of older people. I can tell you the names of some
people right now that I know that have sought the Lord even later in life, come
to church, and lived better holy lives, and they have prospered. On the other
hand, some people I know that have been too slow to get close to the Lord, I
see them now the same or in worse condition than what they use to be! We are on
God’s time but always our time has a limit, our days are numbered.
William Booth started
the Salvation Army later in life and look how much he accomplished! When he
died the whole city of London stopped that day to honor him! Age with faith will
regenerate you and you will be useful and fulfilled, or age will degenerate you
and kill you, when you have not been on the right path spiritually!
11-I know I have said
this many times, but Hialeah is made up of many immigrants that are getting
older! What are all of these old people doing day to day? It is our job to
bring them into fellowship and love! Most of them have solitary lives and some
pray every day to keep their health so they can get around walking, getting to
the store, and buying food. And we always need to thank our drivers who pick up
those elderly ones here who do not drive due to their age or heath! That may be
you getting picked up one day!
We need to thank those
who visit the elder in the Community Care ministries too! Remember, the people
out in the world, those that have not known righteousness and our loving, life
filling renovating Christian way of life, are not anywhere near as happy as
most all of us are in this Corps.
If you want to have
sympathy and do more to help the elderly just go out with the Community Care
people (raise your hands) and also consider the following issues they face:
Relationship issues
such as having a deceased spouse, living far away from family, loneliness, etc.
Mental issues such as depression, forgetfulness, moodiness; Health issues such
as arthritis, osteoporosis, high or low blood pressure, cancer, and many more
issues such as a loss of hearing and eyesight.
On the less bright
side, you and I have been in enough rest homes to see that there are all kinds
of elderly people. Some can be angry, insulting, and rude, while others can be
very nice, calm, and sweet!
12-Answer this
question, what habits do you have today? You will be more of who you are today
tomorrow!
Will you be energetic,
in love with the Lord, and with life, and blessed because you planted in His
house so you could reap? Isn’t it true that we see amazing things happen in
this Corps? Teaching, service, generosity, and encouragement, all come from the
older faithful ones! My question to you who are younger, how is it going to be
for the rest of you when you are older with grey hair?
Will you be old and
bitter about how you don’t have what you wanted out of life? Will you complain
how others treated you unfairly, how you should have been richer, how your
family held you back! Age & time is a collection of what was lived day to
day and daily living in God’s praises will always be renovating but our own
thoughts with our own carnal minds are degenerating and discouraging!
Here is some news…each
of us are getting older! So if we cannot escape time, and some will pass on
before others, why not grow wise, happy, and mature in Jesus Christ? Paul said
he died daily, and that means we ourselves kill the bad in ourselves that is
preventing us from being holy and right with God. But yet he also said that
even though the external man was perishing, the internal man was being
renovated!
13-Each one of us is
responsible for the effect of what we are feeding our minds and spirits day to
day over our time on earth. People look up to the older ones, and what do they
see?
With age we get better
or bitter! Like wine that gets more fine, or like vinegar that gets more tart!
Let’s appreciate, respect,
and pray for those with us that are mature here today! Make plans to grow old
gracefully, full of His grace, and His love, and His righteousness, His wisdom,
and His patience, and His faithfulness!
Pray for those you know
who are elderly today, for family members, friends! Ask the Lord how you can
honor them!
