Age Doesn’t Matter - Martin Wiles

Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green. Psalm 92:14 NLT

I couldn’t imagine what a sixty-year-old person was doing in my college classroom. I soon found that age doesn’t matter. 

 

Eight years after graduating high school—and finally succumbing to God’s call to enter full-time ministry—I enrolled in college. I wasn’t excited about attending a traditional college where most of my classmates would be newly graduated high school students. Fortunately, I found a college that accommodated people in my age category who were also entering ministry. 

But when a retirement-age student walked into the classroom, I couldn’t help but wonder why God would call someone that late in life. For a person in their late 20s—as I was—a person in their late 60s was near dead. Now, that I am near that age, however, I no longer hold the same opinion. 

Age Is Relative 

 

Attending college with some older students taught me the truth of what the psalmist wrote. Age is relative and doesn’t keep anyone out of God’s service. Even now, I have a Canadian friend who is in her 80s and in a nursing home, but still writing for God.

God Has No Requirement Age

 

In God’s work, there is no retirement age. Some places of employment might require us to retire at a certain age or after we’ve worked a certain number of years with their company, but God never will. He offers the best retirement plan, but he’ll never ask us to retire early, or at all.

 

Age brings certain limitations, but it never takes away all possibility of serving God. He always has something we can do that will trump any physical limitations age may place on us. If nothing else, we can pray or send a card of encouragement to someone. We could even find someone to mentor in the faith.

 

I plan to eat right (well, most of the time) and stay in good shape so I can serve God with vigor for as long as possible. Then when it comes time to enjoy his retirement plan, I can die satisfied—knowing I did all I could for as long as I could.

 

Don’t let age—along with its limitations and ailments—keep you from serving God.

Father, thank you for the years you give me to serve you. Encourage me to give you my all until I take my final breath.

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