I just had a birthday, and I emailed a good friend to say
that like fine wine, I’m slowly going
sour.
I was trying to be funny. I don’t know anything about wine,
fine or otherwise, but I do know about going sour. And I don’t want to go that
way.
As people age, some seem to get increasingly grumpy and
angry and bitter, and decreasingly kind and patient and loving. Some older
folks even seem to think their sourness is an entitlement. They’ve put in all
those years of being nice, and now they can tell the world to jump off a cliff.
But I’ve also known my share of older folks who seem to get
sweeter as they age. They have more patience and kindness, less desire
to sweat the small stuff, and more joy in the Savior. They’re a pleasure to be
around. That’s the kind of person I want to become.
How do you get there? Because each birthday gives you plenty
of reasons to groan and complain. More wrinkles, less hair. More aches and
pains, less energy. So what keeps you from getting sour, and instead makes you
sweeter?
Forgive me for being simplistic, but I think the only answer
is Jesus. As in all things, everything begins and ends with Him. If you and I
want to age with grace, we need to keep pursuing the God of all grace. And like
Paul said, we better forget the past and keep pressing toward the goal to win
the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus (see Philippians
3:13-14).
I never want to be one of those people whose spiritual life
peaked twenty years ago, and who never have any fresh insights from God’s word
or new experiences of joy from the Savior. I don’t want to have any laurels to
rest on, but I want to keep resting in Christ.
For the rest of my life I want to major in Bible, worship and prayer, witness and service, and not take any more classes in What's Owed to Me, or Why Life's Not Fair. And whenever God calls me home, I want to feel like a kid who gets let
out of school early, so he can run all the way home to be with his Dad.
God, make me sweet like Jesus, my sweetest, dearest, and loveliest Lord.
