How to embrace our role as an influencer for God—no matter our age
By Dean Collins
At what age do you decide you are officially old? As children, we are always proud of getting older. As teenagers, we are determined to get to 16, 18, and 21 because of the associated benefits. At 29, we have a slight pause at the idea of turning 30. By 40, some start lying about their age. By 50, lots of surgeries have happened to prove we don’t look our age. At 60, the aches and pains in our joints are acknowledged and we learn to tolerate them. My observation of those in their 70s and beyond is that some grab every moment and enjoy life to the fullest while others simply give up and give in to health challenges and changes in wellbeing. Some start claiming old age very early, and others deny it until their last breath, clinging to the line, “You’re only as old as you feel.”
Advice via a mentor
I read Paul’s letter to Titus, just one of the men for whom Paul played a spiritual father or mentor role. Titus had been given a job by Paul to go to Crete and help clean up some doctrinal and behavioral problems in the church. Christians then, just as Christians now, sometimes failed to see the connection between what they believe or claim to believe and how they behave. When beliefs and actions get disconnected, our witness weakens and influence diminishes until they are eventually destroyed. (For a good summary of Titus, watch this short video from the Bible project.)
After reinforcing the qualifications and expectations of an elder in chapter 1, Paul broadens to other leadership roles in the church. While church governance may include election or ordination to certain roles with titles like elders or deacons, some other critical roles seldom get discussed. Paul mentions two of these in the second chapter, and sooner or later every Christian will have a responsibility to fulfill these. We cannot and should not avoid them. I am willing to accept my new title. You will have to decide when you are ready to accept yours. The roles are older men and older women. And Paul gives us some behavioral guidelines.
Older men and older women
According to Paul, older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Since I am now likely older than Paul when he wrote this and probably older than when he died, I am going to accept that this is one of the roles I am to play in the church.
You don’t get to be an older man or woman without some time passing. And we cannot achieve maturity in faith without intentionality in our knowledge of God through his Word, through prayer, and by his Spirit shaping us. When we grow in faith and age, spiritual maturity takes place.
Paul says older women “are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good.”
Paul knew some of the issues in the house churches that were on the island of Crete, but based on these two descriptions, I believe he would say older men and women should behave this way regardless of where they live. Older men and women play very important roles in the life of the church and community.
No retirement
I fear that some of us as we age forget that God still has work for us to do. There is no retirement from spiritual growth and kingdom responsibility. Just as younger believers are to be examples to their peers and to us, we have a God-given responsibility to share from our experience and resources how to exercise good judgment in every way.
Older saints are not exempt from the tricks and traps of the enemy of God. The devil would like nothing better than to prompt some of us to be crotchety, impatient, and stubborn. He might also trap us into thinking we can’t learn anything new. And he sometimes prompts us to behave as if we no longer need to worry about our morality once we hit a certain age.
Paul gave the older saints in the church important roles. The health of the kingdom ministry God has established and called us to will be diminished if we don’t choose to stay focused in our older years on seeking God first and modeling our faith through our behavior and our words. Otherwise, those behind us will have no examples of how to face life’s end or the challenges that arise along the way.
So those of us getting older can remember today to do our stretching, take our vitamins—and get to work. If you are reading this, God hasn’t called you home yet, and there are still important, God-sized things for you to do today!
Your time with God’s Word
Titus 2:2-3 ESV
Photos by LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR via unsplash.com
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