Articles
Youth vs. Age
We live in a culture infatuated with age. Youth is everything, age is a curse. But our culture's interpretation about aging is wrong, almost useless.
The Psalmist said, “The Lord satisfies my mouth with good things so that youth is renewed like the eagles.” Did you see that? “The Lord renews youth like the eagles.” Doesn’t it follow that, if the Lord is in us, He never grows old or loses His effectiveness? Then we never lose out effectiveness by growing old. We are always being renewed.
The question is, where are we getting our beliefs? Are our beliefs being fed to us by our culture or are our beliefs being fed to us by the word of God? If we are deriving our beliefs from God’s word, He calls us to let Him in live in us. Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me." Further, Nehemiah said, "The joy of the Lord is my strength." (Neh. 8:10). If we are dead to self and alive to Christ, who tells us when we are getting old? Who tells us what we can or cannot do because of chronological age?
Think about that. Where do we find the place to retire? When is the time of life that we become ineffective? When do we become too old for the Lord no longer to live in us and therefore become ineffective? He calls on us to let Him live in us.
Yes, the body ages, but the soul, mind, and spirit can be renewed. So who says a 92-year-old has lost his effectiveness? Who says a 30-year-old is automatically effective? Culture lies to us. Both are effective when Christ lives in them. He is never dead. He lives! As long as He lives in each one of us, we can be renewed and never grow old.
Apart from Him we can do nothing; when He is part of the Christian He can do "exceedingly abundantly above all we think or ask" (Eph. 3:20). We are being filled with the fullness of God, comprehending His immeasurable love and being strengthened mightily in our inner man. He will make us strong. Years and age mean nothing to Him.
Don’t let someone tell you you are too old. “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:31).
Live large. Live long. Live strong. Let Him renew you and let the Lord satisfy your mouth with good things.
Rickie
