Part of the human experience is aging. We all get older. In one way or another our bodies start to wear out. Joints ache. Muscles shrink. Eyesight dims. Hair greys and for some it thins. The once smooth skin begins to wrinkle. We grow old. We might not like it. We may try to fight it, deny it, masquerade it. In the end we all age.
I remember the first time I saw a grey hair. I plucked it out. Over the course of the next few months this became an impossible feat as more grey hairs surfaced. Just the other day I turned my hand and arm in a certain way and noticed the signs of old age coming with wrinkled skin.
Kids can be brutally honest. They will say what they think often without filters. Like telling a person, "You are old."
In our story today it was not a child telling a man he was old. It was not even another adult. Read it for yourself. Now Joshua was old and advanced in years. And the LORD said to him, "You are old and advanced in years..." [Joshua 13:1]
Nothing like being reminded of our mortality and that from God. We start out in life learning, leaping, and laughing as we discover our world. As we mature, we begin to dream. Little girls dream of being teachers, getting married, having children, being lawyers, doctors, nurses and authors. Little boys dream of playing professional sports, being firefighters, driving NASCAR, or being the CEO of some company.
Then we age. We start receiving literature from the American Association of Retired People. We retire and walk away from a life of work and productivity to a life of tv, books, fixed incomes, doctor visits, and maybe time with grandkids.
I purposely left off the last part of what the LORD said to Joshua after He told him he was old. Here is the rest of that verse. There remains very much of the land yet to be possessed.
I believe the God was telling Joshua, "You are old, but you still have purpose. There is still very much work to be done. There is more to believe Me for!"
We may age and retire from our careers. The children may grow up and leave the home. That does not mean we do not have purpose. I believe when we retire from our profession that means we become full time available to God to do His work. I see the productivity of many senior adults. Charles Stanley pastored FBC Atlanta for 50 years before stepping down at 88. Charles Swindoll is still at it, as well as David Jeremiah. Both men are old and advanced in years. I know a man who still teaches and works with children who is nearly 70. I know a retired couple who give up one night a week to minister to a group of people on the fringe of society that most churches neglect. I know a retired navy pilot and former Athletic Director who still gives his time to teenagers sharing the gospel when he has a chance in his 70's. I know two senior adult women who still work out together multiple times a week. Getting older has not slowed them down.
Just because we get old does not mean that we are not useful. I know a lady who devotes some spare time to cooking meals for skateboarders one day a week. I know a man who sat horseback working cattle on his 80th birthday. I know a woman who taught a small group at the age of 90. Another senior adult man told me one day, "I want to die with my face in the dirt and not my head on a pillow." Well said.
I think the retirement mentality has gripped many a person. Companies push seasoned workers out to save payroll expenses. Some feel forgotten. They live with no sense of purpose. They cower in fear as they watch the world changing and devolving into a pagan culture.
Just because we get older does not mean that we do not have immense kingdom value to God. He still has purposes for us. If we are willing. If we choose to stay engaged. If we refuse to settle for sitting in a pew listening passively. There is much kingdom work to do. How might God use you to be a part of it like He did with Joshua.
