This last week I met up with a well-respected minister in the Pentecostal tradition. He is 92 years old and has spent his entire life tirelessly bringing “the whole word to the whole world” through preaching, teaching and prolific book writing. His legacy throughout the world is immense.
Yet here was this once virile and energetic man pretty well blind and confined to a wheelchair. His once sharp mind could only lament that he was a spent old man with no more books in him. Despite all his physical challenges he was able to confidently declare that he was waiting patiently for God to take him home.
How true are the words in Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 (TLB):
12 Don’t let the excitement of being young cause you to forget about your Creator. Honor him in your youth before the evil years come—when you’ll no longer enjoy living. 2 It will be too late then to try to remember him when the sun and light and moon and stars are dim to your old eyes, and there is no silver lining left among your clouds. 3 For there will come a time when your limbs will tremble with age, your strong legs will become weak, and your teeth will be too few to do their work, and there will be blindness too.4 Then let your lips be tightly closed while eating when your teeth are gone! And you will waken at dawn with the first note of the birds; but you yourself will be deaf and tuneless, with quavering voice. 5 You will be afraid of heights and of falling—a white-haired, withered old man, dragging himself along: without sexual desire, standing at death’s door, and nearing his everlasting home as the mourners go along the streets.
6 Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young—before the silver cord of life snaps and the gold bowl is broken; before the pitcher is broken at the fountain and the wheel is broken at the cistern; 7 then the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.8 All is futile, says the Preacher; utterly futile”.
Now I’m in my senior years this picture of decline is becoming ever more and more real. The carefree denial of youth is fading away and that stark reality of age is staring at me. I’m blessed with no aches and pains but I’m watching aghast as friends succumb around me to the perils of age. Eventually we all will reach that stage when the golden bowl will be broken.
So we look back on life and acknowledge that everything apart from God, at every stage of our lives, has been futile. The best experiences this life has had to offer were merely transient pleasures. Yes, today is the only time we have to live a life of love for our Creator.
My friend showed his love for God in unceasing worship, reverence and praise —a heart so sold out to God that he led a productive life. His talent multiplied over and over again (Matt. 25:14-30).
Which begs the question — how am I using my God-given talent today? How are you? Life is a timeline to eternity. Which eternity you face depends on your choice today and who you choose to remember will choose to remember you.
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