Age means you are still valuable
Saga is that well known organisation that focuses on the over 50’s and is often the butt of a comedian’s jokes but a recent survey has calculated that middle age doesn’t start until you have reached 53. Also it has been said that life begins at 60.
In this September’s edition of Saga Magazine an interview with HRH Prince Charles’s is published and the interview tells us that he said “The wisdom and experience of age are not always valued as they should be.” The article continued with seeking Prince Charles’s views on various matters relating to those over 50. In response to a question “Do you think older people are undervalued in today’s society” he replied “ …there is a tendency in our modern Western society for a fascination with everything new and novel, at the expense of wisdom and experience age gives.” Considering what he has said we should see this as an opportunity to use our experience.
About the same time as the interview with Prince Charles I came across in a devotional written by Rick Warren titled “Age should speak out and the Young pay attention” and in which he encouraged us to see that God wants to use our experience to help others and to be someone in whom they can trust and as Sondermann & Gardner state in their book “Men’s Work in the 21st century men’s ministry is One man walking with another”
Paul wrote to Titus in Titus 2v2:

“Teach older men to exercise self control, to be worthy of respect and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience.” (New Living Translation)

Reading this verse gives you the feeling that age is still valuable and has much to give. God has a job for us that is commensurate with our experience and wants us to use our experience to share it with others.
Over 50 and you feel you have something to give then check out the CVM web site for details of an event in Chesterfield on the 12th of October. NUMBERS ARE LIMITED and booking is essential.

Have you ever tried putting a jigsaw together with all the pieces turned upside down and with no picture to guide you how it is going to come together? As you try it, you will find different problem solving skills come into play. Skills of patience, persistence, observation and strategy will all be needed as you work with a grey canvas and pieces which look similar. By solving the puzzle, you will find you are learning from having to pay attention to how each piece fits together through its shape and design. You will feel a sense of achievement when you complete the puzzle.
Living in a world like the upside down puzzle, which is moving away from absolutes and boundaries set by God, we need to take time in God’s presence to ask Him to show us His picture and how to see things from His perspective. It is going to mean turning off the TV or radio, not turning on the computer or tablet and ignoring any thought of using the mobile to text or tweet. There will be a need to find a quite place, a place where we won’t be distracted and where we can be alone with the Father.
God can use many different ways or methods to show us how the pieces which form life’s puzzle fit together. His answers can come at any time, in any place or in any way He chooses. We have to be ready, willing and waiting to hear Him speak. He just asks us to be willing to receive from Him in the way he chooses.
When we complete the picture with God, which is our lives, He will show us a picture that is full of colour and we will stand in awe and reverence for what He has done.
 

What would your reaction be if Jesus turned up at your place of work, the local social club, at your retirement home or was seen wandering around the streets of our towns and cities? How would you respond if Jesus tapped you on the shoulder and said I need you as one of the team that I am going to use to change the world? Would you be able to take it all in or would it just overwhelm you?
All this is happening before your mind goes into overdrive and words come out of your mouth that make no sense at all. Then the penny drops just who is with you and you begin to think what people will say if you take up His challenge? It will take us out of our comfort zone and will be beyond anything we have previously experienced and require sacrifices to be made.
Just as the disciples must have felt it will be like stepping out on an adventure without any preparation on our part but one in which we will have to put our trust in Jesus ways we haven’t done before. It is going to be an on the job learning experience with one to one tuition taught by our Saviour in a manner that cannot be replicated by anyone else. It will be so unique we will absorb His passion and vision which will become part of us that it will transform any reluctance or resistance we may have had.
It will be an introduction to the call to be part of the great commission that we find recorded in Matthew 28:19-20:-

“Therefore go and make disciples of the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these disciples to obey all the commands I have given you and be sure of this I am with you to the end of the age.”
(New Living Translation)

The world is on our door stop so let’s obey our Lord’s command for now is the time to become active in His Service.

It may not be part of your mindset to think in the way the apostle’s did, they wrote great letters of guidance. When we come across passages like the words we find in 1 Peter 5v1-7 it is a reminder to us who have reached our senior years “Be shepherds of God’s flock.” For those who are younger there is the reminder “Young men be submissive to those who are older”. The section concludes in verses 6&7 where we find our attention drawn to the words “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Something we all need in these troubled times.
As we age we should not be thinking, I have done my bit and it is now up to someone else to carry on. We should be turning our thoughts to how as elders and witness for Christ, we can give guidance and leadership to those who have just started their Christian walk. From our life experiences we have much to give.
This may be something that is new to us or something that we haven’t done for a while on life’s discipleship course. It is never too late to start applying the way Jesus taught his disciples.
Through living out a discipleship life style we can share Christ to the world. So are we going to stand up and be God’s person? It is not going to be a stroll in the park and it will take us along unexpected ways. But in the end as we walk with our Lord, we will see things through His eyes.
 

At the age of 94 Billy Graham has set out his vision of what he is looking to achieve. It is a challenge that we who are many years younger should be taking on. Those who are closer in age to Billy Graham should not opt out but look to what God is asking them to do.
After his birthday in 2012 Billy Graham wrote down what he wishes to see happen, God willing, in the coming twelve months. He is giving a lead and example to follow. When we take into consideration his age and his failing health, we must give him respect, because he has continued to proclaim the good news over many decades.
Why aren’t we showing the same passion as Billy Graham? A passion to reach our brothers who are living in a world that doesn’t take notice of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is no easy task to motivate ourselves to go out into a hostile land, but we shouldn’t give up. How about asking God to go with us instead of taking part in serious navel gazing and saying we can’t do it? Jesus taught his disciples on a one to one basis and he will do the same with us if we will let Him.
The current attempts by the state to restrict when and where we can share the gospel can be overcome through prayer and living our lives so they reflect our Saviour.
Billy Graham is living the vision God has given him. What about us? Is God asking us to spend time in His presence so that He can open our eyes to the wonders He has to show us? And light the flame in us to achieve the task He has given us. All we will be asked to do, is to raise our focus above the problems which surround us and focus on Him.