It’s an amazing thing to grow old…er.  I was sitting the other night listening to a bunch of young people talk about the 90’s and realized that although I think that was just yesterday, for some of them it was nearly 20 years ago. “Wow,” I thought, “for them that is old.”  For me…not so much.

One of the things about growing older is you begin to understand that time often tells a story. If you watch people much, (which I love to do) you begin to notice several things over time.  You often notice that many, many people struggle with unbelief in God. Many who in their youth claimed to love God never followed Him much after school. You notice many struggle with suffering. All of us do to some degree or another, but many have been given “thorns in the flesh” that just absolutely will not go away.  You also notice that basically, people are who they are and who they have always been.  This is kind of a “well–duh!!!” I know, but over time it begins to be very obvious.

The thing that I am seeing most clearly is the devastation of sin in the world in my own life.  Growing up around hearing about sin and knowing that I am a sinner, you sometimes put sin in its own little box and you think you know what it is.  As you grow old, you see your sin and then as you have children, you begin to see a different angle on your sin as you watch your own children deal with their sin.  You then find that you are a very good teacher of sin because your children pick up on how you like to be “god” of your life and they do much the same thing.  You then see sin bring such devastation to families and life’s relationships over and over again.  Relationships that are supposed to function smoothly actually are the most brittle. Parents, because of their desire to be “god” in their own lives make it very difficult for their children to honor them, love them, or have any decent relationship with them.  Children who are supposed to sweetly obey and honor their parents are crumbling in their own personal relationships and cannot ever seem to make time for family.  It goes on and on. Sometimes, it seems that people insist upon making a wreck of their lives. Time tells this story.

All that to say, there is one redeeming factor.  Jesus.  Jesus came into this world to only heal those who are ill (Mark 2:17). The illness is overwhelming. We are getting old..er! The very fact that we are growing older only indicates our need of redemption–things need to be restored.  This restoration is only found in Christ.  Thanks be to God for His Son! Over time, shouldn’t Christ become even more precious?