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Growing Old Gracefully
by Pastor Paul M. Sadler
“Rebuke
not an elder, but entreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; the
elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.” — I Timothy 5:1,2
Like the seasons of the
year, each of us gradually grow older until we find ourselves in the winter of
our lives.
The first 70 years are
normally filled with vim and vigor as we fulfill the desires of our heart. But
if by reason of strength we survive beyond this point the Scriptures indicate
that the days ahead are going to be filled with labor and sorrow.
Labor, in the sense that
even the mundane things of life, such as rising from a chair, becomes
burdensome.
To complicate matters
further, sorrow surrounds us like a tattered garment as death robs us of those
we love.
Little wonder that Paul
admonishes us to esteem the senior members of the Body of Christ as fathers and
mothers.
Their plight deserves our
sensitivity and their years of experience our respect.
Furthermore, it will
serve us well to remember that someday soon we will be the patriarch or
matriarch.
In Ecclesiastes wise old
Solomon, stricken in years himself, describes the aging process that creeps up
on us like the leopard that stalks its prey.
“Remember
now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the
years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).
Someday
the grim reaper will stand at the foot of our deathbed and the “mourners
[will] go about the streets” whispering: Has he passed on?
Beloved,
there are thousands of ways to leave this earthly tabernacle, but perhaps the
most common today is when the “pitcher is broken at the fountain.” In
short, a fatal heart attack.
“Then
shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto
God who gave it” (verse
7).
The sting of death is
sin, but thanks be unto God that Christ died for our sins thereby removing its
sting.
No one looks forward to
growing old, but hopefully we will do so gracefully and with dignity.
As they
say: “There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.”
The blood of Christ is
our eternal life insurance policy which has a rider guaranteeing our future resurrection!
The Berean Bible
Society was founded over
seventy-five years ago for the sole purpose of helping believers understand and
enjoy the Word of God. Our Organization holds without apology to all the
fundamentals of the Christian faith and is evangelical, that is, we believe
that salvation is by grace through faith alone on the basis of the shed
blood of Christ.
We also emphasize the
importance of proclaiming the whole counsel of God in light of the Pauline
revelation. Insofar as Paul is the apostle of the Gentiles, it is our firm
conviction that in his epistles alone we have the doctrine, position, walk, and
destiny for the Church, the Body of Christ, during the dispensation of Grace.
When did the Berean Bible
Society actually have its beginning? Interestingly, it began in a two-room
school house in Preakness (now Wayne), New Jersey. Here a group of believers
began to see the importance of understanding the “the mystery”
revealed to Paul, and the urgency of proclaiming the unadulterated
“gospel of the grace of God”. It was Pastor C. R. Stam’s first pastorate:
the Preakness Community Church.
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