You’re Not Getting Any Younger

It's a new year. We all are getting older. We exercise to take care of our bodies, but it's also important to take care of our souls.

Psalm 73:26, 1 Peter 1:4

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About a week ago I was up on a ladder clearing my gutters that were filled with leaves. So I thought I needed to get up onto my roof to actually get the job done. It was just then that the ladder went one way and I went the other and I didn’t have time to get my hands down in order to prevent myself from having a bad fall. Sure enough I hit my knee and my elbow and finally my chest.

As I lay there on the concrete I knew that I hadn’t broken anything, at least not in anything serious, but I knew it wasn’t quite time for me to get up yet. I needed a few moments there. And as I lay on the concrete I began to wonder what if? What if it had been much worse? What if I’d fallen on my head or on my neck? This maybe even could have killed me. It was a reminder to me of my own mortality, of the fact that I’m not getting any younger.

And I’ve been made more aware of that even after the 10 days since that accident happened I am still in pain today. My knees still hurts, my elbow still hurts, even my chest still hurts from that fall. Maybe you’ve experienced such things in your own life. Whether it’s been an accident or a sickness or some other injury that you maybe have realized that your body isn’t what it used to be. That you’re not invincible, the way that you may be thought when you were young.

I think these things can be good reminders for us that our bodies are not going to last forever. That one day they’re going to give up they’re going to fail whether it’s injury, whether it’s sickness, whether it’s just plain old age, they’re gonna give out, aren’t they? So where’s our hope? Psalmist in Psalm 73 verse 26 tells us this:

My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)

The psalmist tells us that God is our rock. He’s like a rock that cannot be diminished in any way no matter how much time elapses. He’s our portion that remains forever. God is the one that we are to place our hope in not in ourselves.

There’s such a focus in our world today I think concerning diet and exercise and vitamins and all of those things. It’s good to take care of the body that God has given us as a gift, but what should be most important is taking care of our souls. To have God in our heart trusting firmly in his promises in his word because he is the God who is our portion forever. He grants to us a blessed inheritance and heaven as it says in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 4.

This is an inheritance that is undying, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. (1 Peter 1:4)

We can trust that this God is a God that can give us eternal life because he has proved it in raising his Son Jesus from the dead. Yes, our bodies give evidence to the fact that we’re not getting any younger. May they be a reminder to us of our need to prepare for the day when we depart this life, but we can look forward to that day hoping and trusting firmly in our God who is our rock and our portion forever. Amen.

Matthew Moldstad
Matthew Moldstad

Pastor Matthew Moldstad currently serves at Peace Lutheran Church in North Mankato, Minnesota. http://peacemankato.com/

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