The Misconception of Age (Part 2)
“A gray head is a crown of glory; It is found in the way of righteousness.” – Proverbs 16:31
This post follows on the heels of the previous one regarding old age/longevity. This verse has continued to shape my thinking about life and about my own thoughts on age.
It is my great concern that the older people in our churches, communities, and families are being taken for granted by younger generations. We view the blue-haired people in the church as cute pew decorations rather than seeing them as the seasoned warriors of the faith that they truly are. Why should we continue to struggle with all of the age-old questions of how we ought to do things when our churches are full of people who have life experience and years of faithful God-fearing under their belts?
Many people will contend and say something to the effect of, “Why should we listen to older people? All they want to do is make us do things the way they’ve always been done…and who wants to sing hymns every Sunday anyway?” While this example might be a little exaggerated, I am sure that many of us in the younger generations have wrestled with thoughts such as these at some point.
However, I might suggest that we would be wise to remember that the zeal of our youth will one day give way to a more determined and static understanding of the church and of the gospel. This is not the emergency that it might seem to be. It is only natural that we would grow and mature in our understanding of the way that things ought to be done and we too will hold onto the way that we have grown accustomed to doing things.
Maybe the problem isn’t necessarily that older people are too unwilling to change, but that as younger people we have failed to realize the importance and the value of the believers who have gone before us. It is much to my dismay that we treat those with the gray-haired crown of splendor with disdain and disrespect rather than taking the time to honor them as heroes of the faith who have faithfully modeled submission to Christ to the rest of the body of Christ.
May we stop and thank God that we have been blessed with believers who have carried the torch of faith and who have faithfully invested in the church so that we as young adults might experience the fullness of the gospel within the church, the Bride of Christ.
i agree with you in spirit zane. i struggle with your post as well because i have spent many years living with some people from older generations who are bitter and vitriolic. i love old people and they do indeed have a lot to teach us, but it oversimplifies things to say that all of them are wise and have things to teach us. we need to be as wise as serpents and find those sages and then turn up our hearing aids, but not beforehand! lets have chapati together soon and talk about my last blog post which is scandalous to be sure.
thanks for the input chad. i agree with you completely about the need for discernment in this area. i agree that we should allow ourselves to be fed and taught by those who have proven themselves to be wise and who have modeled a godly christian life while avoiding being influenced by those who have proven themselves to be hearers but not doers of the word.
p.s.- i would love to eat chapati with you.