PAUL, THE AGED

Celebrating his 60th birthday, Dennis really changed his perspective on life— He used to think people in their sixties were “old.” Then he started counting the number of productive years he might have left and set the number at 10. He went along with this dead-end kind of thinking until he remembered a very productive co-worker who was 85. So he sought him out to ask what life after 60 was like. He told him of some of the wonderful opportunities  God had given him over the last 25 years.

The apostle Paul, referring to himself as “aged” in Philemon 1:9, really resonates with my own sense of aging: “Being such a one as Paul, the aged, . . . I appeal to you for my son Onesimus” (vv.9-10). Paul was asking Philemon to take back his runaway servant Onesimus. Some scholars believe Paul was in his late forties or early fifties when he wrote this—certainly not a senior citizen by today’s standards. But life expectancy in those days was much shorter. Yet despite awareness of his mature years, Paul went on to serve the Lord for several more years.

While we may experience physical or other kinds of limitations, what really matters is that we continue doing what we can for God until He calls us Home.

God can use you at any age—if you are willing. (RBC)