Growing Older Can be Joyful
Podcast (listen-to-this-article-here): Play in new window | Download(Duration: 6:55 — 12.7MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS
Recently Carolyn and I were looking at old family photo albums. Our middle son Danny is turning 30 next month! We were seeing photos of him as a baby and ourselves 30 years younger. It was hard not to feel old and a little melancholy. How can we age gracefully?
As I wrote recently, I really do feel that getting older is awesome! But that doesn’t mean there aren’t times when getting older is discouraging. I need a reminder why the decline of my body and eventual death should be a cause of rejoicing. Don’t you?
Why can we be encouraged? Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Scripture is clear: “And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless” (1 Corinthians 15:17a NLT)
Human beings seem to have a natural sense that this life of decline and eventual death is not the end, that there is a hope of eternity. Ecclesiastes 3:11b says “He has planted eternity in the human heart” (NLT).
Through Jesus’ resurrection, we have a foundation for hope of an eternity that is wonderful beyond our imaginations and guaranteed.
I found a website on “ageing gracefully” and it said a key is to “accept changes.” The point was you’re going to have illnesses, suffering and eventually die. Just accept it.
Jesus offers something so much better—he offers real hope. (If you don’t have His promise of eternal life, click HERE.)
Christians can truly age gracefully!
Here’s 3 ways to age gracefully in the light of Jesus’ resurrection:
01. Look forward to heaven as everything you wish life could be.
It is tragic how deluded so many are about heaven.
People presume it will be a shadow of life here on earth. The Bible says the opposite: life here is just a shadow of how wonderful heaven will be.
Our problem is similar to a child who begins to hear about where babies come from. The child cannot imagine such a thing as sex and that it will someday be wonderful. In fact, the child’s response is “Ewwwwww, yuck!”
Likewise, we mortals have a hard time imagining heaven and often say “Ewwwwww, yuck!”
How immature.
The Bible says,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9b NLT)
The wise person understands that life in heaven cannot be adequately anticipated because of our limited experience of life on this earth. The wise person believes the Heavenly Father and says, “Wow, I can’t wait!”
Heaven will be everything we wish life could be here on earth.
The wise person understands that life in heaven cannot be adequately anticipated because of our limited experience of life on this earth. The wise person believes the Heavenly Father and says, “Wow, I can’t wait!”
Heaven will be everything we wish life could be here on earth.
02. Don’t multiply sufferings by resenting them.
This is a lesson I certainly learned the hard way. A few years ago a number of personal tragedies made life difficult.
But then I made them twice as difficult by
Resenting my suffering
Questioning why God didn’t take better care of me
Feeling betrayed by God
Certainly these are understandable responses. That’s why so many go through them. But the fact is that they multiply the suffering.
This article is too short to adequately cover answers to the questions about why we suffer. To help answer those questions, please see the resources listed below.
Rather than resenting suffering, the Bible instructs us to welcome suffering: “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” (James 1:2-4 NLT)
As you suffer, don’t double your suffering. Instead, rejoice that it can help you to mature. You’ll greatly reduce your suffering.
03. Look forward to your new digs.
Carolyn recently bought some seed packets with pictures of beautiful flowers on the outside. Inside were little gray flecks like sand or shriveled dead bugs.
She and the seed company have faith that those little nothings will grow into beautiful flowers.
I’m a doubter. Such a transformation could never happen, could it?
Obviously it can and does happen millions of times each day in our world.
Perhaps you’re a skeptic about having a new body after death that will live forever in a paradise without pain, suffering, and death. That’s as foolish as thinking seeds cannot produce flowers.
God’s promise is this: “For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.” (1 Corinthians 15:53 NLT)
As our bodies age, as we lose our five senses, as pains increase and as we miss the good old days, let’s look forward to our future when “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (Revelation 21:4 NLT)
For help with answering the question of why God allows suffering and pain (theodicy) see these resources:
3 Trees That Explain Suffering (a series of 3 articles)
Podcast Is it OK to be angry with God?
Podcast Why aren’t my prayers answered?