Aging Biblically
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- Written by: Rex M. Rogers
Most of us don’t think about aging until, well, we reach a certain age, but whatever your age, have you thought about how to age biblically?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #130 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
Hi, I’m from the 20th Century. Who and what I am, for better or worse, was largely defined back then. That might sound funny, but it’s true. I was born in another century, and thus far I’ve spent most of my life in the 20th Century, which obviously means I am older, I’m aging.
In 1513, Juan Ponce de León searched for the fountain of youth and eternal life. Instead, he found Florida. A lot of jokes come to mind, like maybe Ponce de León found the fountain of you after all, or at least tens of thousands of retirees seem to think so when the head off to Florida each winter.
But hey, time marches on. Youth is irretrievable. Aging is inevitable, inexorable, and irresistible.
Age is an issue in the 2024 US Presidential election – President Joe Biden is age 81, and former president Donald Trump, the likely opponent. will be age 78 at the election in November.
Remember, age was an issue in the 1984 US Presidential election too. Ronald Reagan, who was 73 at the time, was running against Walter Mondale, age 56. Some people felt Reagan was too old. During one of the debates, Reagan nailed it when he was asked about the age issue. He famously said, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience." The line solicited a huge laugh from the audience, including Democratic opponent Walter Mondale.
But there is one alternative to aging – death, as in “Nothing’s certain but death and taxes.” Scripture says, “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,” (Hebrews 9:27). Even the Old Testament patriarch Methuselah, who lived to be 969 years old, died.
Death is the “Great leveler.” It comes to great and small, the wicked and the good, all demographics.
One joke common among elderly folks is: “I’m glad to be here. Hey, I’m glad to be anywhere.”
But I’m not here to talk about death. I want to talk about aging, and not just aging, but how to age biblically.
If you are a Christian, as I am, I hope you not only want to “finish well,” as they say, but you want to live into your sunset years in a manner that honors God.
In American culture we sometimes say, “My, she’s aging gracefully.” Mostly what’s being said is that she is aging well physically. In other words, she looks pretty good. Nothing wrong with that, though some people wryly note that aging gracefully is more about gravity than grace.
Much about aging gracefully has to do with DNA and things beyond our control. But there’s also a lot within our control. For example, it’s possible to inflict attitudes and behaviors upon our bodies, minds, and souls that debilitate our physical, mental, and emotional conditions, that not only age us but age us rapidly and distressfully.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Every man over 40 is responsible for his own face,” meaning our choices, our lifestyle, show up in our countenance.
The Bible says this: “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit” (Proverbs 15:13). What’s on the inside shows up on the outside and etches tracks of its passing.
So here we’re talking not only about aging gracefully – usually the physical – but also aging graciously – which is about the spirit. Aging graciously is how the “real me” interacts with the world.
Some counselors talk about the “More So Syndrome.” This is the idea that what we’re like, that is, how we behave, what kind of personality we have, when we are middle aged or older – including our shortcomings, bad habits, poor attitudes, or sour outlook on life – is likely to be “more so” when we are older and elderly.
So, if I’m a grouchy person at 70, I very well could be an unpleasant, nasty, maybe surly person at 80 or 85 or 90. If I am a kind, compassionate, slow to anger, friendly, and godly person at 70, I am more likely to be more so – kinder and more pleasant – at 80 or 85 or 90.
Who we are inside often heightens or sharpens with age, and it comes out.
Jesus said, “What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them…The things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person” Matt 15:11, 18-20.
Those who study or who work with elderly people say More So Syndrome is a common occurrence.
What’s that mean for us now? Well, this means we need to tune into our attitudes and behaviors. And not we ourselves but we need to submit our hearts and therefore our character and personality to the Lord, for “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Gal. 5:22-23.
But challenging circumstances, what the book of James calls trials and tribulations, always intervene. Life happens. Yet while we experience adversity in life, indeed “to be human is to experience adversity,” still, there is no biblical justification for what are called “Grouchy old women” or “Crotchety old men.” Have you known someone like this, an older person who is just not pleasant to be around? Do you want to me this person who is clearly not aging biblically, or do you want to be a person who honors God and therefore blesses those around them as you grow older?
“Good aging manifests itself a spirit which rises above external circumstances, praying for the grace not simply to endure what must be endured, but for the grace to move through adversity to a deepening of spirit and the will to reach out to others in need.”
As human beings made in the image of God, we are blessed with moral agency, meaning our character and our will are not determined, controlled, or necessarily even limited by our environment or our demography, that is, sex or race or ethnicity. Nor are we the hapless, hopeless victim of fate, destiny, karma, “May the Force be with you,” chance, luck, kismet, or any other conceived impersonal influences.
We are free moral agents, thank God. We are blessed to choose, we are blessed to be used of God, and we can be a blessing to others.
At my age now, in my early 70s, I understand our family verse better than when Sarah and I chose it at the birth of our first child, a “Bicentennial Baby,” in January 1976: “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy” Psalm 126:3.
Aging believers know, perhaps better than others what the Psalmist meant when he said, “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” Psalm 23:6. Who better to proclaim God’s faithfulness than older people?
Aging biblically involves the following:
- Trust the sovereignty of God, i.e., facing frailty, disease, decline, death while evidencing faith, joy, grace, wisdom or perspective, peace.
- Understand God is not finished with us until he calls us home – God decides, not us, so we don’t quit. “Therefore we do not lose heart.Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” 2 Cor. 4:16
- Live with purpose, intentionality, learning; what does God want me to do now?
- Seek to finish well, recognizing that “The glory of a life well-livedis the glory of single days well-lived.”
Aging gracefully is OK, but aging biblically is better, for indeed this means we are aging godly, and if we are doing this, God will bless and work through us till he calls us home.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024
*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://twitter.com/RexMRogers.
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- Written by: Rex M. Rogers
Have you thought much about getting older? Your answer probably depends upon your age now. Younger, not so much? Older, absolutely. Real question is, what should characterize us as we age?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #41 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
I’m getting older and so are you. There, I said it. The cat’s out of the bag…sort of.
We all know this, of course. I mean, who doesn’t know they’re getting older? Kids like to remind us, “I’m 8 years old and next week I’m going to be 9.” They’re proud of the process. It’s like an achievement. But for the rest us, the ones who’ve “reached a certain age,” we’re not so enamored about what birthdays imply. No one, but retirement homes and life insurance agents, seem to want to talk about it.
Meanwhile, the “Fountain of Youth” offered by the cosmetics industry notwithstanding, aging is inevitable, inexorable, and irresistible. And youth is irretrievable.
Now there is one alternative to aging. Not aging, which comes with its partner, death. Some wag once said, “Nothing’s certain but death and taxes.” Yes, that’s true on both counts, which is why one joke common among elderly folks is “I’m glad to be here. Hey, I’m glad to be anywhere.” Older people love that joke.
We know “people are destined to die once,” (Hebrews 9:27), but death doesn’t claim everyone early. Aging is the “better alternative.”
Aging comes to us all, great and small. So, the question is not will we age but how will we age?
When someone says, “My, she’s aging gracefully,” mostly what’s being said is that she is aging well physically. In other words, she looks pretty good. Nothing wrong with that, though some people wryly note that aging gracefully is more about gravity than grace.
Yet there are a few things we can do to reinforce our prospects of aging gracefully.
One of my mentors once said, “Are you taking care of yourself? You know, whatever you do for the Lord you do in a body, so if you burn out your body you can’t keep serving the Lord.” That was Dr. Wilbert W. Welch, long-time Chancellor of Cornerstone University, who at the time was well into his 80s. When a gentleman of this age gives you advice on how to take care of yourself you’ve got to admit his words carry a lot of credibility. He lived, by the way, into his mid 90s.
Aging gracefully seems to be what most people, and certainly Madison Avenue, are worrying about. To an extent, I have no problem with this. Like Dr. Welch said, taking care of yourself pays dividends.
But still, I’d suggest, if we’re talking about physical things, aging gracefully is mostly beyond our control. What happens, happens.
My energy in my 60s is not my energy in my 30s. My eyes were once especially sharp—I won all the read-the-sign-way-down-the-road contests. Now I wear blended tri-focal lens, and the beat goes on.
Aside from the physical, there’s another profoundly more important way to approach aging. We can consider what it means to age graciously, which is entirely within our control.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Every man over 40 is responsible for his own face.” His point, for women too: our choices, our lifestyle, show up in our countenance.
Scripture says, “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit” (Proverbs 15:13). What’s on the inside shows up on the outside and etches tracks of its passing.
It’s possible to abuse our body, mind, and souls with worldly excesses: binge drinking and alcohol dependency, drugs including prescription opioids, unhealthy diets, cigarette smoking, little or no exercise, ongoing stress-inducing behaviors like overwork, lack of sleep, relentless drive for greater wealth, damaging and broken relationships, absence from church or other positive community, addictive pursuit of psychoactive drugs, sex, gambling, social media/Internet, video gaming—“About 41% of video gamers say they play video games to escape from real life…Over 7% of video gamers are addicted to this activity.”
And then there’s shopping. Wait, shopping? Yes, shopping. “Over 17 million Americans cannot control their urge to shop, even at the expense of finances, marriage, jobs, and family.” Obviously, this stresses budgets and relationships.
Finally, there’s obesity, which can cause everything from arthritis to certain cancers to heart disease to diabetes. “The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the United States was nearly $173 billion in 2019 dollars.” Obesity is linked to six chronic diseases. It is one of the top five causes of death.
Notice disease per se is nowhere listed. Of course, disease takes a toll in a fallen world, but human beings are more responsible for their problems than we are typically willing to admit.
So, to review, it’s possible to inflict all manner of attitudes and behaviors upon our bodies, minds, and souls that debilitate our physical, mental, and emotional conditions and increase the prospects of an early death.
It’s hard to age gracefully or graciously if we die before our time. And don’t blame the Lord for this. He gave us all we need in Scripture for a joyful, productive, healthy life. But sound counsel is not effective if it is ignored.
Aging graciously can contribute to aging gracefully, but it’s about more than the physical. Aging graciously is about the spirit. Aging graciously is how the “real me” interacts with the world.
We make jokes, but there’s really no place in Scripture where we can justify “grouchy old women” or “crotchety old men.” It isn’t there, yet who we are inside often heightens or sharpens with age, and it comes out. Meanwhile, Solomon said, “Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life” (Proverbs 16:31).
Doug Steimers was a wise friend. He served 5 years in the Canadian Army during WWII, was married for 65 years to June, who’s with the Lord, and then several years to Betty. He pastored churches in Canada and the States for 40 years, helped churches in conflict for 10 years, and for more than 10 years in his “retirement” founded and led a caregiver’s ministry for his church. He did this into his 90s.
Rev. Steimers, or Doug to most anyone, uses the word “intentionality,” meaning we should not simply grow “older” but “closer,” on purpose, to awareness of God’s presence in our lives. He says, “I’ve often asked myself and others, ‘How are we seniors using our last years for God?’”
Doug said seniors should share more compassion than complaints. He recommended people do two things:
- “Use your life intentionally for God; think about your motives,” and
- “Broaden yourself,” keep learning, keep being open to what God can do with you now, today, at this age.
It’s true that Doug, like Dr. Welch, was blessed with good health, which allowed him to remain active. But he also made decisions relative to his activities. For example, he voluntarily decided not to drive after dark or in heavy traffic during the day. There came a point in time when he declined public speaking invitations because his own evaluation suggested he could no longer speak in a manner to which he’d been accustomed.
We can learn even more about aging graciously if we unpack Doug’s decisions. In thinking proactively about his life, he offered us a model. He didn’t “keep going” out of some spiritualized sense that he must because God demanded it. He didn’t wait until others felt he should not continue to serve—it’s always difficult (and it happens a lot) when an older person refuses to stop or change long after he or she should have done so.
Doug didn’t associate his “worth” with his ability to do certain things. Not doing these things didn’t create for him an “insecurity problem.” No, his sense of who he was rested in his relationship with the Lord. Doug knew God is in charge of aging as well as serving, ministering, working.
Dr. Welch modeled a similar process for me too. In his 80s, he chose a times, resigned from boards, decided not to continue speaking publicly when the rest of us still wanted him to do so, and made personal arrangements regarding he and his wife’s future living and care. I honor Dr. Welch and Rev. Steimers for their godly examples of proactive stewardship.
Aging.
We can fight it and complain about it. Or we can consider it a blessing and use it. That’s what I learned from Wilbert Welch and Doug Steimers. Aging gracefully is OK but might be selling our potential short. Aging graciously is a way to multiply a positive impact upon others in our latter years.
Aging godly is another level. Who better to proclaim God’s faithfulness than older people?
I understand our Rogers family verse better now than when my wife Sarah and I chose it at the birth of our first child in January 1976. “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy” (Psalm 126:3).
Aging ones know: “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6).
Aging gracefully, graciously, godly is a worthy legacy.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2022
*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.
You Must Be Getting Older If
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- Written by: Rex M. Rogers
You must be getting older if you:
1-like buying gas w/o a monitor promoting stuff while you’re trapped.
2-remember a time when sports were about sports.
3-appreciate patriotism.
4-find corporate social activism wearisome.
5-believe we’d be better off if men/women offered youth more mature role models.
6-miss respectable and respected political leaders, and celebrities.
7-enjoy music w/ singable lyrics.
8-think everyone would be safer, happier if we still believed in right and wrong.
9-worry about next generations who are virtually illiterate re history, biblical worldview, and civics.
10-consider social media a mixed blessing.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2020
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.
Aging Well As Husband And Wife
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- Written by: Rex M. Rogers
I like watching old couples (define “old” as you wish).
In a mall coffee shop a while back, I watched a late-70s couple. Wife helped positioned Husband in his motorized chair at a coffee shop table. Then she briefly massaged his ankle because he said it was hurting. After this, she went for his Grande-something.
When Wife returned with Husband’s order, he refused to drink until she got hers and told her he’d wait until she returned. She smiled and patted his shoulder and a bit later came back with her drink. Then they tapped cups, said, "Cheers," and enjoyed their coffee.
Why do I like watching old couples? Because you learn a lot about lasting relationships. I’ve been in malls in south Florida where I was the youngest one in the mall. 80-somethings walk around holding hands. If you haven’t seen this, you don’t know what you’re missing.
I like watching old couples because with my Good Wife I hope to be one of them some day, and that day doesn’t seem as far off as it once did. I want to age well, but more specifically, I want to age well with her, together, not just in the same room, but in the same spirit, mutually respecting and listening and connected.
Old couples can teach us all what love and commitment are all about in what feels like an increasingly unloving and rootless world. The coffee shop couple’s kind of love is one too many people sadly know nothing about.
Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2017
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution
statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.
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- Written by: Rex M. Rogers
Oh to be young again,
To run barefoot through the woods,
hollows,
and glens.
To see Grandpa,
the old farm,
and my dog Peppie running in the wind.
Oh to be young again.
To walk the hardwood of Lincoln School,
take milk-money,
and search for steel pennies in the bin,
To play baseball,
marbles,
and Cowboys-n-Indians,
Oh to be young again.
To race the playground,
learn grammar and fractions,
and get lost in the wonder of a young girl’s grin,
To discover comics and novels,
read in the night,
and dream of being a hero of men.
Oh to be young again.
To look upon Creation,
think about God,
and become aware of something called sin.
To understand love,
sacrifice, forgiveness,
and thanks to the Lord salvation within.
Oh to be young again.
To be fueled by optimism,
invulnerable, invincible,
and take life as you must right on the chin.
To revisit Central School,
look for the names carved in the desk,
and recapture the hope of where we begin.
Oh to be young again.
To grow up fast in ways not our choosing,
watch the world change,
and find JFK, MLK, RFK no longer therein.
To endure Viet Nam, Watts, Kent State,
wrestle with racism, rebellion, hate,
and meanwhile youth comes to an end.
Oh to be young again.
To be young again is an old one’s fantasy,
repeat, redo,
and relive the uncertain.
To remember is a privilege,
amuse or bemuse,
and it dawns, after all, youth’s not such a bargain.
Oh to be content with the age that I’m in.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2012
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.
The Joys Of Getting Older
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- Written by: Rex M. Rogers
Aging usually isn't on people's top ten list of things they want to do, or experience. But as they say, "It's better than the alternative."
Aging comes to us all, great and small. Ancient and wise King Solomon spent a lifetime thinking about what mattered in life. One of his conclusions? "Gray hair is a crown of splendor," (Proverbs 16:31). In other words, he thought advancing age came with some benefits. So do I.
Here's at least one:
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2012
This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.