Don’t Get Old

 “Don’t get old,” my mother said, as she got into the passenger side of her car. We had just left the hospital room of my father, who had suffered a major stroke. You can guess what kinds of problems were looming ahead. His eyes were closed most of the time, (who would think that opening your eyes is one of those things you would have to “remember” to do after a stroke) his speech was slurred, and his left side was paralyzed. Don’t get old was my mom’s advice, although we both know that we have no choice.

We have no choice in the aging process. From the moment we are born, we start this process. Parents look forward to their children turning @ 1, so they can proudly witness their first steps. Toddlers look forward to turning 5, so they can go to school. At 10, we wish we were 16, at 16, we long for 18 or 21, and in our twenties, we look forward to the 30s and the upward career mobility opportunities that await those with “more experience”. At 40, when our physical bodies start to make the noticeable changes of aging, we begin to see the inevitableness and down side of becoming older.

In our spiritual life, the Bible speaks of spiritual age as being connected with maturity and wisdom. It is something to be desired. How different our spiritual and physical lives are. In salvation, God graciously gives us a new spirit and revives our inner man, our soul, but our physical body remains the problem. Within the confines of this deteriorating and limiting body, we can not master or conquer our sin problem, and we experience a myriad of discomforts, limitations, and ailments. Why on earth would God want to leave His redeemed creation in these physically deteriorating (although truly magnificent and wonderful) bodies?

The key to the answer to that question is in the question itself. We are still on earth, operating in the earthly realm. Imagine, for a moment, living here on earth in bodies that are not frail or weak, everything going smoothly for us and everyone in our families. Would we even CONSIDER our Maker? Or, would we go along thinking how great our efforts were on our own behalf, and sail along without giving a single thought to the Creator of the universe and His interaction and impact in our lives? Liz Curtis Higgs makes a humorous and poignant observation of how dangerous it is for us parents to have the “good” child first. You know, the one who sleeps on schedule, eats on schedule, is totally cooperative, and can be easily disciplined with the raise of an eyebrow across the room. (I personally have never had one of those, but evidently Liz has.) If you have that one first, she says, you think it is totally due to YOU, and what a good parent YOU are. (And, by the way, you have no mercy, only judgment, for those parents who do not have their own “good” children.) Liz jokes that the Lord then gives you the child you deserve- the one your mother promised you- the child who has his/her OWN schedule, personality, way, etc., and you realize that you have little to do with it.

I think that the Lord allows us to remain in our degenerating bodies and to experience all the ups and downs of this life to help us to be reminded that this world (and our body) is not our end or home (2 Corinthians 5:6). It creates in us more of an acknowledgment and longing for Him and our real home. The Bible states that all of creation groans and LONGS for the physical redemption (Romans 8:19), and problems here on earth accentuate that longing and bring the reality of our real home into clearer vision. We are just here for a short time, and our physical limitations help us to appreciate and anticipate our Heavenly destination.