Extra Years?

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew6:27NIV

Short, sharp, and to the point. You don’t usually get medical advice like that, because it takes a lot longer for our ‘learned academia’ to go round the houses before they come to the point. But here it is in the Bible, and has been there for centuries. When you continually worry your life suffers! Take a deep breath and let that sink in.

It is important to understand the difference between worry and concern, or being anxious and it is this. Worry is usually a long term thing, and ‘worrier’ is the word used to describe someone who almost naturally worries before they know all the facts. Worry is in the core of their being. Most, if not all, of us have been concerned or anxious about a certain situation or person, but it doesn’t take over our life. The concern passes.

Jesus is making a statement we need to hear, especially if we are a ‘worrier’ by nature. It doesn’t have to be like this when we can leave it with Jesus to deal with. In fact the bigger problem needing God’s attention isn’t the thing or person making us worry, it’s our own heart which can’t seem to let go and let God do His work. The concerned and anxious person’s feelings will pass when the issue or situation passes, and we let Jesus take the strain (literally), so don’t feel guilty about that, however I would encourage you to get heavenly help for your worry!

One Hundred Years

‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ Numbers14:18NIV

Older folks, we have a great responsibility on our shoulders. There are a few verses which record the same thing, that our Great-Great Grandchildren’s society will pay the price for the sins of our generation, and since the average age of a generation is around 25 years, we will be well gone from this scene of time but our family will still be affected, and it will be our fault.

We cannot claim that this is an old testament ‘curse’ only. Take a look around the great nations who once were Christian in word and deed, and look at those same countries now. You will see that in the space of 100 years, so much has changed. For two examples, think of the UK and the USA, and look back those 4 generations. What a change in morality, and there can be no doubt that while they sowed the wind, we are reaping the whirlwind. So it will be four generations hence.

This is more a warning for each and every present generation, and less a punishment on our succeeding generations. They are solely and directly inheriting the mistakes (sins) of their ancestors. The children in 100 years time are not at fault, we are. They are innocent, and we are guilty of neglecting God and His Word. The Children of Israel did it time and again, but God was patient and kept taking them back when they repented. But the cycle repeated.

Although each individual at every generation has the freedom to repent and put God first, this truth still works. The general state of society will reflect the rejection of God at every generation until there is a revival and the ordinary man and woman comes to their senses and turns our god-less nations around. Lord, let is begin in our generation. With us. With me!

I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations.I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.But I do not excuse the guilty.I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren;the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.” Exodus34:7NLT

Worrying Time

You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it. Matthew 6:27 ERV

It started off as a slight concern, and has now gone through all the following stages until it has become a full blown anxiety. I know this verse and have quoted it often as a way to defuse other people’s fears and worries, but…. Well that’s the problem, it’s the word BUT!! What about now? What about my fears? My suspicions? What if I do nothing, and something bad happens to a loved one this time? How could I possibly live with myself?

Harm comes in many forms and from many sources, but one that doesn’t get much airtime is the harm that affects the eternal destiny of the harmed one(s). Can I afford to play along and pretend all is well, when I am growing more and more uncertain that all really is well? For me, it has changed from a game of hide and seek, to one of hide and hide and hide again.

Meanwhile we all play our part in the theatre of life. The ones who harm, the ones harmed, and those watching from the gallery. In truth there are almost certainly more than a few who see the signs, question the life and lifestyle of the harmer, and still don’t know what to do that would solve the problem, or even reduce the harm done. It is difficult not to worry about the ones you love, and that makes it hurt!

Extra Ten?

Seventy years are given us! And some may even live to eighty. But even the best of these years are often empty and filled with pain; soon they disappear, and we are gone. Psalms 90:10 TLB

Take my word for it, the years pass quickly. It seems one minute you are meeting and marrying the girl of your dreams, and the next minute you are watching and babysitting your grandchildren. When that phase of life is over, the house is quiet, and there comes a time when one of you is left alone due to sickness, illness, or accident. This part of your life is not the way you had imagined or planned.

During later years you may be alone, but sadly you may also become lonely. There is nothing you can do about this except bear it with grace and patience. We are reminded by God that we have an allotted span of seventy years, or maybe a bonus of another ten, making it eighty. In any case, there is a time when your mortality becomes evident. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t often think of death or dying (each of which is very different) but there is an awareness which grows as time passes.

If you are able, give some thought to the way you would like to live out these extra ten years. Obviously, you want to make them count. But how? Can I impose on you and make some suggestions as one who is approaching my God ordained limit?

> if you are blessed to have family, treasure them all. They are your gift.

> read, take up a hobby and find an interest. The devil finds work for idle hands.

> don’t drift from old friends, and make new ones. This reduces loneliness.

> attend or join a church. There is nothing better than the company of Christian friends.

That’s not a lot to take in during the last years of your life, and if you don’t try, those years will drag and you will become a grumpy old misery-guts. You probably know one already, so don’t be like them. The verse ends with the words “soon we are gone” which is worded in other translations as “soon we fly away”. Keep that promise in your head, heart and mind. When you have the full assurance of heaven, living out the remainder of your allotted life span isn’t so bad after all, is it? I like the way Paul puts it in Romans 14:8 TLB: “Living or dying we follow the Lord. Either way we are His.”