Directions – November-December 2023
America is aging. Advances in medical technology, healthcare treatments, and knowledge about nutrition and fitness are making it possible for people to live longer than ever before. Declining birth and fertility rates are also driving up the average age of the population.
It seems that we have significant discomfort with aging. Popular culture considers “old” a bad word. Advertisers and manufacturers lead us to idolize youthfulness as if human existence peaks in the late teens or early twenties. Many cover wrinkles and color away the gray. Others feel the need to apologize for slower movements and “senior moments.” Waning physical faculties make everyone uncomfortable, but advocates of physician-assisted suicide go so far as to designate it “undignified.”
Our Lord thinks differently about aging. His Word actually has quite a high regard for length of days. In the hands of God, advancing age can offer incomparable opportunities to receive blessings and confess Christ!
- What do you think popular opinion considers as the ideal age? What do you think the Lord God sees as the ideal age (Isaiah 65:19-22)?
- Do the Scriptures employ the word “elder” as more of a criticism or a compliment (Exodus 24:9-11; Numbers 11:24-25; 1 Timothy 5:17; 1 Peter 5:5; Revelation 4:4)?
- What circumstances or characteristics can make advancing age similar to infancy (Isaiah 40:30; John 21:18)? What nevertheless makes it distinct from early life (2 Chronicles 10:8-19; Proverbs 20:29; Ecclesiastes 4:13)?
- How does the aging process reflect and embody the sinful nature (Psalm 90:9-10; 1 Peter 1:24)? How does the aged condition reflect and embody the nature of God (Daniel 7:9; Job 12:12)?
- In what ways do individuals of advanced age serve integrally in biblical history (Genesis 7:6; Genesis 17:1-2; Exodus 7:7; Job 42:16-17; Luke 1:13-18; Luke 2:36-38)?
- What aspects of advanced age did Jesus embody in His earthly ministry (Matthew 13:54-56; Mark 15:20-21; John 19:28-29)?
- What does aging reveal or remind us of regarding God and His grace (Psalm 91:16; Isaiah 46:3-4; John 15:5)?
- What makes physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia such an attractive temptation for some? What superior alternatives does the way of Christ provide (Isaiah 40:31; 2 Corinthians 4:16-17)?
- What gifts and ministry may we receive from our aging neighbors (Titus 2:2-5)? What can we do to celebrate and support the sanctity of their lives (1 Timothy 5:1-2)?