HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-05-11, Page 21THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 1988. PAGE 21.
Minister's Study
Thoughts on
growing older
BY JAMES H. CARNE, PASTOR
AUBURN MISSIONARY
CHURCH
I remember a time when, looking
at some obviously “old” gentle
man, I would find myself thinking,
“I’m glad that I am not old like you
are.” Suddenly I am being invited
to avail myself of senior citizens’
discounts I (and when you only look
like a senior and can’t qualify for
the benefits, it really hurts!)
Where has the time gone?
Recently, I had the privilege of
performing the wedding ceremony
of a young man whom I had held in
my arms 24 years ago when I
baptized him. Somebody’s getting
old! I recall the time when I was 35
years of age and realized that, if a
normal lifespan is 70 years, then
my life was half over. Now I am
counting down to retirement.
(Seven years, for you who are
curious!) Isn’t it strange that the
1988birthdateofa “thoroughly
modern Millie” will seem as old to
a person living one hundred years
from now as 1888 seems to us,
now?
When one begins to get old there
are some things about which he
begins to think that may not have
concerned him before. The matter
of security, for instance: is there
enough money to keep one in
retirement; if a house has not been
purchased to date, where will one
live? Other sober thoughts about
which he has postponed thinking
also come to the fore: what will it be
like to have to forego the privilege
of driving a car; what if health
problems develop - cancer, loss of
eyesight, astroke? And, inevit
ably, th e que stion of one ’ s rel ation -
ship to God will play around the
edges of one’s consciousness, if it
has not occupied previously one’s
full attention.
I have known many people to put
off the question of their soul’s
eternal destiny just as they put off
going to the doctor, or to the
hospital. They hope that the
problem will simply go away, or, if
it won’t, that it can be deferred as
long as possible. The sad fact is
that this most important business
of one’s life can be deferred
indefinitely; one can hide behind
“hypocrites,’’ or feel that the
matter is simply too complex to
consider, until he takes his last
breath, and time and opportunity
to change his destiny are gone
forever.
And the Bible does not leave in
question our destiny: “And just as
it is appointed for men to die once,
and after that comes judgement, so
Christ, having been offered once to
bearthesinsof many, will appear a
secondtime, nottodeal with sin
but to save those who are eagerly
waiting for Him.” (Hebrews 9:27,
28) Now, the implication is that, for
those who are not “eagerly waiting
for Him,” just the first part of the
verse applies: ”... it is appointed
for men to die once, and after that
comes judgement...”
If you are one of those persons
who has to be dragged to a doctor,
only to find such relief that you
wonder why you had waited so
long, and you have not faced up to
the question of how you stand with
God, I would encourage you to seek
out a minister, or a Christian friend
in whom you have confidence, and,
to-day would not be too soon to do
it! The Bible says that, “Now is the
appointed time; to-day is the day of
salvation.”
I’m old enough now to be
concerned about whether or not
there will be money enough for
retirement years, and I don’t own a
house, so we might well wonder
where we will live, but, of this I am
glad: “I know the One in Whom I
trust, and I am sure that He is able
to safely guard all that I have given
Him, until the day of His return.”
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