July 14, 2010
Age Appropriate
Generally speaking, Scripture applies to all of us unless it specifically addresses young men, virgins, old men, etc. However, as we get older many seem to set Biblical instruction and promises aside as though they no longer pertain. Forgetting that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us, we’re downcast about having to downsize, aggravated that others are making decisions for us, and mad at the loss of physical strength and bodily functions. We need to be reminded that all Scripture is age appropriate.
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Gail;
-----It can not be denied that some Scripture speaks to certain people in particular circumstances. I Corinthians 7 addresses the circumstances of married men and women, the unmarried and widows, married couples with troubled relationships, marriages between believers and non-believers, circumcised men, uncircumcised men, slaves, the desires of unmarried men and women to marry, and the relationships between the betrothed. Scripture deals with the role of men and of women in the church and in marriage, much to the chagrin of most today who hear the appeals of intellectual elitists regarding non-differentiation, rather than hearing God’s Word about how He meant for men and women to interact. Ephesians 5 and 6 speaks to wives’ behavior towards their husbands, husbands’ behavior toward their wives, children’s behavior towards their parents, slaves’ behavior towards their masters, and masters’ behavior towards their slaves. Philemon even addresses a particular master about a particular slave.
-----But in the many specifics the Bible addresses, there is an underlying principle to all people in any condition at any age. It is humility within circumstance. It ties into the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” My mind goes to His multitudes who have suffered excruciating deaths in many persecutions throughout the world over the centuries in spite of all the assurances of the Word about His provision of our food, clothing, shelter, long life, and personal wealth and prosperity (my apologies to you preachers of social and economic justice, read Proverbs.) There is much suffering from war, crime, crippling injury, sickness, and poverty amongst His people because we live in a world subjected to tragedy by man’s rebellion. And if one is blessed enough to escape this tragedy, he will face the inevitable decline of health unto death by old age. There are circumstances given to our personal control; there are circumstances beyond it. We must humble our decisions regarding what is in our control to the effects of what is not.
-----The Scripture’s addressing circumstances of others that are not our own yet implies to us its authority regarding circumstances that are our own. It is a behooving of us to make our choices according to its direction. For all our circumstances exist within the broader circumstance that, thankfully, God means for this tragic condition to end within a matter of several decades for any one of us and to spill over into a glorious eternity. Therefore, the general principle the whole Word speaks to each of His listeners is that our lives are necessarily being directed into the coming of His kingdom, more by His will than by ours, and that we should now walk accordingly.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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