Aging Without Getting Old

The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, If it is found in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:31 (NKJV)

Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle’s [strong, overcoming, soaring]! Psalm 103:5 (Amplified Bible Classic Edition, AMPC)

So many people resign themselves to growing old and losing their health and the joys of life. It doesn’t have to be this way. In the Bible. God has promised us length of days and has promised to bless our lives. That does not sound like we are supposed to look forward to our latter years as a time of feebleness and loss. Like Job, if we live for God, we should enjoy the latter time of our lives more than we did the beginning years. We can actually age without getting old.

If we pursue God consistently and follow His instructions about how to live life, He will keep us youthful, both physically and mentally. A mind that knows the Word and meditates on it is a blessed mind that does not deteriorate. The Word is living and stands forever, so if we fill our minds and hearts with it, they will remain vibrant and alive as well.

For in Him we live and move and have our being, Acts 17:28 (NKJV)

Caleb and Joshua are great examples of men who were still strong, alert, and active even in their eighties. Caleb even demanded that he be given the hill country to drive out the giants that were living there, and he was 85 years old at the time.

“Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old!  I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.  Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Joshua 14:10-12 (New International Version, NIV)

We should not be believing to become old and frail. Our faith should be that when we are in our late years that we are as active and vital as we are now- even better actually. If we live and have our being in God, we should be like God at every stage of life- full of life and power. If you have been feeling old in your physical body or in your mind, just get into the Word and meditate on Scriptures about strength, long life, and wisdom. And follow the Holy Spirit’s leading to take action to regain ground you may have lost regarding physical fitness and general wellness.

There is much to be said for growing older as long as we grow wiser as well. We are to progress through life, accumulating experience and knowledge along the way. The longer we live, the closer we should get to the Lord and the more like Christ we should become. Instead of young people turning away from older generations, they should be seeking them out to gain from their wisdom, insight, and understanding. Old age is not a bad thing. If we trust God with our health, our latter years can be the best time of our lives