09/27/2018 - Years: A Reward for Running the Race of Faith
With lifestyles and medical care improving, our lifespans are also increasing, but a long life doesn’t necessarily mean a good life. Some reach their older years and look back with regret, some look at the lives they are living now and ask why they are sick, or dying, and others are even tempted by Satan to abandon their faith and enjoy worldly pleasures in the years they have. But what does God want for us, and what does the Bible say about aging?
“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.”
Psalms 92:12-15 ESV
God desires for us to live long lives, and He also asks us to live them righteously. Having lived a long time one would think that we would have accumulated much wisdom, and yet men and women get on in years and begin to act as if they have no sense whatsoever... they abandon their faith and righteousness that saw them through their younger years. You may be in your later years and facing this issue now, or you might be younger and thinking “What does this have to do with me? I have many years left!” But just as the best time to save for retirement is in our youth, so it is that the best time to consider and establish our plan for faith and righteousness in our elderly years, is in our youth. The die we cast as young men and women determines what our mold will produce later in life. Living long is not a curse, but a blessing... a reward. Are we ready to see it that way and live as if we are being honored each day, or do we have a victim’s attitude as we get on in years?
“"Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation."”
Psalms 91:14-16 ESV
We live in an earthly body that begins to die from the moment it takes its first breath, but this is not cause for depression or negativism. We should celebrate every breath we take and praise God for this time in which we live life and rejoice in Him. It is in this time that He will satisfy us and show us His salvation. We seem to confuse the purpose in our living with accomplishing, and accumulating, worldly things, when in reality it is to give us life itself, and to prepare us for eternity.
“You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.”
Deuteronomy 5:33 ESV
Our life is not a mirror image of our faith. As a matter of fact, we must suffer through it to bring our faith to its fullness. We are set on this course to receive the breath of life from God, and then to increase in Him as we live out our years. His desire is that we live, increase in faith, and become wise... to gain wisdom and knowledge of Him as we go.
“Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.
Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.”
Proverbs 3:13-14, 16-18 ESV
Right hand and left hand are symbolic in the Bible... Jesus sits on the right hand of God because that is a place of honor. At judgement the saved run to the right of Jesus, and the damned run to His left, but scripture tells us the specific meaning of right and left when it comes to wisdom, listen...
“A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left.”
Ecclesiastes 10:2 ESV
So what we thought, and have been taught by the world, to be a reward, “riches and honor”, is not necessarily so. Long life is the reward... not what we achieve in this world throughout our years. Some of the happiest, and most blessed people in our churches have very few earthly possessions, and some of the most miserable have earthly riches too numerous to count. So what does this say about aging, faith, and God’s wisdom? It tells us that living, and specifically living long, is not a punishment, but a reward. It also tells us that as we suffer in life, and throughout the years, we are increasing in faith and the wisdom needed to understand that. James is summing this up when he writes these words...
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
James 1:2-5 ESV
Today is the day that the Lord has made, so how do we chose to rejoice in it? If we are young will we work to firm up our faith so that it will serve us well in our later years? If we are in the middle years will we be looking for ways to serve and honor God in them? And, if we are in the midst of our golden years are we clinging to the faith of our youth and strengthening it as we suffer... and are we modeling righteousness for those younger ones who look to us? There is so much written in the Bible about increasing in faith and righteousness as our years advance, and each passing year is a reward... how will you chose to live them? How goes the pattern of your life?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for each breath I take, and every year I live rejoicing in you, and your blessings. I pray Holy Father that you reveal to me the wisdom and knowledge of your Word, and the understanding of you that is contained in it. I ask that you give me understanding in my youth, increase and seal my faith in my middle years, and place me as a lamp before the world in those I walk stooped and unhurried. You have promised us that in our later years we will be green and full of sap, and continue bearing fruit, Help us in those years to concentrate on the sweet ripe fruit, and not on the twists and knots of our aging branches that bear them. Lift up our countenance, and bring us joy amidst the suffering. These years are like the conclusion of our race Lord, and in this final stretch we are meant to draw on every ounce of strength we have to finish well. It is not enough to have started quick in our youth, or to have persisted and remained steady in the middle years of faith... we must finish well, and inspire all those who watch and resolve to run this distance with you. We need to hand the baton of our wisdom to those who come after, so that their way might be made straight by our efforts, and so that they are encouraged in their own suffering by our example. Great are you my God, and great is my reward in serving you throughout my years. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you the God who breathes life, and gives eternity to those who believe in you. Praised be your name Gracious Father, and when my race is run I will shout to all heaven and earth... GLORY TO GOD! For my race is run for your glory and praise!
“But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: "'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.”
Acts 2:16-18 ESV
Rich Forbes