August 19, 2010
Forgetting What is Behind
I have a cousin who is depressed about the waning years of his life. He is frustrated that he can’t do things without his walker and he has no appetite, consequentially he’s losing weight and physical strength. During a recent check-up his doctor said, “Nick, we all are going to die sometime. I can’t make you 25 years old. You’re nearly 90, so get over it! I want to come to your 90th birthday party!” Both Nick’s doctor and his wife have encouraged him to think about the things that he’s able to do, rather than dwelling on things that he can’t do. I think even when we are nearing the end of life, Paul gives us a sound example to follow, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3:13b-14 NIV)
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Gail;
-----Last night we were watching a reality show about people subjecting themselves to the transsexual process. I mused to my family, “How do you suppose these people are going to think about themselves when they are old and just a few years from death?”
-----My daughter objected, “Oh, they won’t even think about it!” But she is only eighteen. I’ve been that age, and everything you can think about the mindset of the old can only be presumed when you are very young.
-----So I replied, “Honey, a person’s thinking changes the more the years from his birth exceed the years until his death.” There are many things one must begin resigning to old age. First, the limited time one has to reach his planned goals becomes obvious. Then it becomes apparent there is no longer any time left to reach your goals. (And the more one is a procrastinator, the more this effect is felt.) Then you begin to realize the body in which encroaching time will trap you will be no better than what you previously constructed of it and maintained. I presume that eventually the limitations of the aged body will so far exceed its abilities that all one has left is the perceptions of what he is. What a person was in the past can seriously challenge his beliefs about what he now is. And by my own experience I know the more a person brushes off reality the harder will be the challenge.
-----But Jesus Christ is the truth. And the truth about life is that the death process is established at conception, and for many it begins then as well. The different stages of physical life - growth, maturity, and aging - each present their own set of physical responsibilities. But in truth, these responsibilities are only for the maintenance of physical life, and alongside them is another set of spiritual responsibilities for the maintenance of spiritual life. Those responsibilities are indelibly tied to the acceptance of truth. And as the body grows old, the truth is that it becomes important to exercise and eat well for the retention of as much ability as possible, yet knowing that, regardless of these efforts, physical abilities will dwindle to nothing on the day of your passage. Therefore it is even more important to live with that day in mind, surrendering to physical limitations for picking up spiritual joy all the more it approaches.
-----For that day is payday. And whether you entered employment in the Lord’s vineyard at a young age, or whether you simply stepped into the pay line on your death bed, God will hand you a paycheck for having come to the right Paymaster. The mind that is set upon the day’s wages makes this life’s difficulties bearable, whether difficulty is from a life steeped in past unrealities, or from a life trapped in a non-functioning body. So, joy does not have to vanish with the physical limitations of old age. It does not have to be constrained by the improprieties of past decisions. It can flow freely all the way to the hand of the Paymaster in as much as a person acknowledges to himself that the paycheck waits as promised.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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