Though we tend to
look at it in the negative, growing old has its benefits. Sure, I may have been
diagnosed with lumbar spondylosis and other things affected by the wear and
tear of age, but I have noticed that the years have also given me a wealth of
knowledge and experience to go with it. Job confirms this where he says, ‘Wisdom
is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life’ Job 12:12. Another
benefit is the blessing of seeing your children’s children (Psalm 128:6).
One of the
problems with getting old is hair loss. Jesus says, ‘But even the hairs of your
head have all been counted’ Matthew 10:30. However, every time I visit the barber,
he remarks on how thick my hair is as he’s thinning it! But grey hair? As they
say in Scotland (especially in winter!) ‘I’d rather have grey hair than nae
hair!’ There’s a Bible verse for this too, ‘Gray hair is a glorious crown; it
is found in the ways of righteousness’ Proverbs 16:31. The NKJV gives a little
bit of commentary where it adds the word ‘if’, and says it like this, ‘The
silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if
it is found in the way of righteousness.’ Could ‘the way of righteousness
be what Neil Young is looking for where he sings, ‘Keep me searching for a
heart of gold, and I’m getting old’? Wisdom is what we ought to be searching
for. ‘If you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, then
you will understand the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God’
Proverbs 2:4-5. The ‘heart of gold’ for the Christian is found in the new
Jerusalem, ‘The main street of the city was pure gold, clear as glass’
Revelation 21:18b.
Where do we keep searching
for this heart of gold, this hidden treasure, as we’re getting old? Look no
further than Christ, ‘in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge’ Colossians 2:3. It makes sense, that if you are not going ‘in the way of righteousness’, then you are
going the wrong way, grey hair or nae hair! For Scripture says, ‘There is a way
that seems right to a person, but its way is the way to death’ Proverbs 14:12.
You would think that every grey-headed human being would be a follower of Christ. But,
tragically, this is not so! There are those who are searching for fool’s gold.
For, Scripture says, ‘The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”’ Psalm
14:1a. Why would you search for something you do not believe in? That would be
most unwise! And Scripture says, ‘Now without faith it is impossible to please
God, since the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and that
He rewards those who seek Him’ Hebrews 11:6. Therefore, there is no ‘heart of
gold’ for those who are not searching for it.
For me, growing
old has simply meant growing closer to God. Whenever I feel sorrow for myself
in all my aches and pains, I think of my body being renewed in the resurrection.
Then, I ‘shall run and not be weary, … walk and not faint’ (Isaiah 40:31b).
When I hearken to my youth and wish I were young again, then I think of
dwelling with Jesus on the renewed Earth with my renewed body. For, Scripture
says, ‘We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see
Him as He is’ 1 John 3:2b. This means that I won’t have an elderly body in Paradise. Nor
will a Christian who has died as a child be as a child. Rather,
we will be like Jesus, i.e., as an adult in our early thirties without the
affects of sin and of living in a fallen world!
Christians grow
old gracefully because God is the God of grace.
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