Finishing Well
A dear friend of mine (who happens to be on my blogging team, but will remain unnamed,though his name does not begin with P) is a lot older than I am (he's up there in the 53-55 range). Recently he said the following to me: "More and more I want to finish (life) well."
Finishing well is a concept that I first encountered in Scripture some 10-15 years ago. I remember preaching/teaching it a number of times. I also remember thinking as I did: "I hope that as the my years accumulate, I will indeed finish well. I do not want to be one of those who preach such things, but then cop out when it's my turn actually to live them." I was very conscious as a 35 year old of how untested and unproven in my own experience this teaching was.
I am now on the older side of 50, and nearly every day in one way or another I am reminded that I'm in the final third of life . With these added years I'm grateful to be able to report that at least to this point, God has only increased my passion to finish well. I am in fact gaining enthusiasm and faith for godly later years as I continue with God in the work of His kingdom and as I walk side by side with others who are a bit older than me and are showing me that it is possible so to live.
Uzziah was a man who did not finish well. His start was great; his finish was grief. You can read his beginning of life and "ministry" experience in 2 Chronicles 26:4,5, 7,15 and then contrast it with his end of life experience in 2 Chronicles 26:16-21. Here was a man who started well: he did what was right in the Lord's eyes; he feared God and sought God with all his heart; he fought the enemies of God. And in response God helped him and made him strong and great for the kingdom. But when he was strong he became proud. Unfaithfulness set in and the end of the story was full of sorrows.
There's a warning here that we need to hear. We are to end well. But we may be sure that the enemy will do all he can--as will our flesh--to tempt us toward a different end. We will be tempted to pride and self-sufficiency and the flat out carnality of western style retirement with all its comforts and ease and rocking chair relaxation.
Uzziah's proud complacency in 2 Chronicles 26:16 is not unlike the proud complacency of American style retirement plans and lifestyles. Proud of and secure in their accomplishments, too many retirees push the cruise control button and kick back to coast through the sunset years of life. And too many in their mid-to-late 50s are simply grinding out their last few years of labor so they can enjoy the golden years of retirement ease. This is sin.
Friends, we may never coast. Never.
Over the next couple of days I'm going to share a few thoughts that God has taught me in recent years to help me gear up for the later years of life. I hope they will help to immunize us from the ease disease that has infected the majority of 65 and older folks in today's American church, and endangers those of us in our 50s.
Hope you'll tune in.
Finishing well is a concept that I first encountered in Scripture some 10-15 years ago. I remember preaching/teaching it a number of times. I also remember thinking as I did: "I hope that as the my years accumulate, I will indeed finish well. I do not want to be one of those who preach such things, but then cop out when it's my turn actually to live them." I was very conscious as a 35 year old of how untested and unproven in my own experience this teaching was.
I am now on the older side of 50, and nearly every day in one way or another I am reminded that I'm in the final third of life . With these added years I'm grateful to be able to report that at least to this point, God has only increased my passion to finish well. I am in fact gaining enthusiasm and faith for godly later years as I continue with God in the work of His kingdom and as I walk side by side with others who are a bit older than me and are showing me that it is possible so to live.
Uzziah was a man who did not finish well. His start was great; his finish was grief. You can read his beginning of life and "ministry" experience in 2 Chronicles 26:4,5, 7,15 and then contrast it with his end of life experience in 2 Chronicles 26:16-21. Here was a man who started well: he did what was right in the Lord's eyes; he feared God and sought God with all his heart; he fought the enemies of God. And in response God helped him and made him strong and great for the kingdom. But when he was strong he became proud. Unfaithfulness set in and the end of the story was full of sorrows.
There's a warning here that we need to hear. We are to end well. But we may be sure that the enemy will do all he can--as will our flesh--to tempt us toward a different end. We will be tempted to pride and self-sufficiency and the flat out carnality of western style retirement with all its comforts and ease and rocking chair relaxation.
Uzziah's proud complacency in 2 Chronicles 26:16 is not unlike the proud complacency of American style retirement plans and lifestyles. Proud of and secure in their accomplishments, too many retirees push the cruise control button and kick back to coast through the sunset years of life. And too many in their mid-to-late 50s are simply grinding out their last few years of labor so they can enjoy the golden years of retirement ease. This is sin.
Friends, we may never coast. Never.
Over the next couple of days I'm going to share a few thoughts that God has taught me in recent years to help me gear up for the later years of life. I hope they will help to immunize us from the ease disease that has infected the majority of 65 and older folks in today's American church, and endangers those of us in our 50s.
Hope you'll tune in.
Labels: christian life, Old(er) Age, Retirement
posted by Tim Shorey at
9:20 AM
4 Comments:
Regarding the contributors to this blog (which group also happens to make up approx. 80% of its readership), I predict that both "B" and "T" will finish well.
Alas, as one still on the front side of 50, I believe it is too early for me to worry about such things. But I do pray that I, too, will finish strong. Which, by the way, presumes that one is currently "going strong." And this, I fear, is at best a dubious assertion in my case. No false humility here, just the truth.
But you know, praise God... I am beginning to see more and more signs of life... thank you Lord, and thank you Trinity Fellowship!
I'm glad we can have a little fun on this blog... Thanks!
At Fifty-one years old some look forward to getting his AARP card in the mail. Fifty one! Well, I'll have you know that I must wait for a short while, until I'm counted in that number, the good Lord willing. But actually, I'm enjoying another promise not only for the future, but for now as well. I too want to finish well, and I find myself praying "they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint...".
No, we do not want to collect seashells and play softball full time.(Piper's "Don't waste Your Life") Let us "run the race with perseverence! Brothers, let us pray, because right now a brief mile jog and I'm winded.
"But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13-14)----- at least that is my aspiration, however imperfectly I may fulfill it.
Thanks for the prodding.
Speaking as one who can't imagine turning 30, let alone a much more "mature" age...there is a sense of urgency to finish well--sprinting across the finish line.
Isn't it weird to live in a culture so wholly anti-Biblical that it worships youthfulness and abhors aging? I really have to FIGHT the message of society that tells me I can live any way I desire simply because I'm young--that I deserve to.
I've often heard Piper say, "It helps to be 60."
Not that I'm saying any of the contributors are there yet, but that with age comes maturity--and I often lack that.
I definitely pray for the "mature" members of TFC and I jealously desire their prayers for us twenty-somethings (who desperately need prayers for their maturing).
May God grant that we are all victors in the race.
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