LifeDate Fall 2025 – Life … as We Age
by Rev. Dr. Aric Fenske
God’s Word tells us that it is a blessing to grow to an old age (Job 12:12; Proverbs 16:31, 17:6). However, because of sin, growing old also comes with many challenges. For many, aging means having to deal with a weakening and aching body, forgetfulness, and the loss of independence, among many other frustrations.
Unfortunately, the devil has convinced our culture to look to death as the solution to the suffering that comes with growing old. The story of Genesis 3 has been repeated over and again as people elevate themselves to the place of God, who alone has authority over life and death. Ending one’s own life through physician-assisted suicide or purposely hastening death by withholding necessary medications or treatments are violations of God’s command to love and protect the lives He so wonderfully created.
It is right for a Christian to feel compassion for those who suffer and to desire an end to their pain. But deliberately ending a life is not the answer. Christ alone provides the answer to our suffering by joining Himself to our suffering in His own life and death.
For the sake of Christ, the heavenly Father leaves the aging with many wonderfully comforting promises. God will never leave us or forsake us, no matter how old we grow or how terribly we suffer (Isaiah 46:4; Psalm 138:9). He will use our suffering to strengthen our faith and bring us into His salvation (Romans 5:3-5, 8:28-30). And finally, by patiently enduring our suffering through the faith that He supplies, God will ultimately free us from all pain and suffering (Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 2:10).
It is my prayer for you that the articles in this issue will serve to that end. May your faith be increased so that in Christ our Lord, you are able both to see the sanctity that God places upon the lives of the aged and to entrust yourself into the loving care of our Father in heaven no matter what lies ahead, knowing that “even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).