Psalm 37:3-8, 23-25 and 40 and Proverbs 20:29
The Scripture says that “the glory of a young man is his health and strength…The honor of an older man is wisdom and experience. Just like adolescence is a transition from child-hood to a young-adult…mid-life is a transition from being a young adult to just being an adult…and like Peter Pan, we are thinking “I don’t want to grow up!...Nor do I want to grow old!
So, what causes this strange phenomenon known as the mid-life crisis?
Factor #1 - Realization of the aging process. In Psalm 37 David said; “I was young and now am old”…And, though it may seem like it, it didn’t just happen overnight. We have been aging, but we don’t really take notice until around the big 40!
There was a song by George Burns called “I wish I was 18 again” that describes this process… It went something like; “ I can remember when I was child, I desperately wanted to be older; When I was eight I couldn’t wait to be thirteen; When I was 13 I couldn’t wait to be 16… At 16 I got my driver’s license and had my sights set on 18…. Of course when I was 18 I thought the day would never come when I would be 21… And when I was 30 I wanted to be 21… and when I was 40 I wanted to be 21…” Now I am 64 and I have learned to put childish things behind me… right! Sometimes I am still 21 in my mind…and my body says “Don’t even think about it!” It seems to me that somewhere about age 21 when we would like to put the brakes on, we somehow step on the accelerator!
One man going through mid-life said it was like the economy; “My hair-line is in recession; my waistline is going through inflation; and now I’m in depression!” Part of calming the mid-life crisis is accepting in our minds what is taking place in our bodies. If you are like me, that’s not easy to do.
A little boy walked up to an elderly lady and asked; “How old are you?”… The lady responded; “That’s my business!”… The little boy said; “It looks like you’ve been in business a long time!”
Factor #2 - is the time factor. Have you noticed that as we get older, time seems to go faster?” When we were young, a year, 365 days, seemed like forever! Now it goes by in about three months! I can remember a time when the year 2000 seemed unbelievable…and here we are in 2013!
Factor #3 - is the failure factor. What I mean by that is; We begin to look back over our life and realize that many of our goals and dreams were never realized… and our thought is that they never will be. Some of them may not have been realistic to begin with, but we feel like somewhat of a failure…and it throws us into a mid-life-crisis.
Factor #4 is closely related, it’s the reflection factor. No, this is not what you see in the mirror…This is when you begin to reflect on your life and some of the decisions you made along the way, and wonder if your life would have been different if; “What if…?” I think this is a real strong factor, and when this one strikes, some people try to rewind the tape and start over…They start looking for excitement and adventure and we call it a “second childhood” It’s a mid-life-crisis. If allowed to take over, this reflection factor becomes a regret factor and will tear families apart… and make people act as if they have some sort of temporary insanity!
So, what is a mid-life crisis? Well, everything I have said thus far is from a worldly view of “life passing you by” thinking. This is why it is so important - no matter what our age - to view life from God’s perspec-tive. You see, God has made all things beautiful in His time. Every stage of life has its advantages and its disadvantages.
The scripture in Proverbs 20:29 tells us that when a man is young, his strength is his advantage… But, the disadvantage is that he lacks wisdom and experience. On the other hand, when our hair is gray and receding, our experience and wisdom ought to make up for what we lack in strength. Mid-life is actually the best time of all because we have gained enough experience and wisdom to avoid the mistakes of youth… And, we still have good enough health to enjoy the things in life that the very elderly struggle with.
The real, good, news I have for you today is that God wants us to enjoy life at every age and no matter what our age! God wants us to enjoy and make the most of the present…And not regret the past…nor fear the future. Real meaning and purpose in life does not come from serving self nor does it come from trying to impress others, life is only meaningful when it embraces God’s eternal purposes. Eternity is a long time…. It’s a lot longer than even 100 years!
I personally have made up my mind that God is not finished with me yet!…The game is not over at half-time!…There is still a “back nine” to play! There are some ants as well as some giants to kill!
We can’t turn the clock back or replay the first half, but we can decide to make the rest of our life the best part of our life, no matter what our age!…. Is anyone saying Amen?
By the way, the best part of that scripture from David is the last part; “I was young and now I am old, YET I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE RIGHTEOUS FORSAKEN”! … Nor their children begging for bread.”
Two things I will leave you with this morning: If you are young and strong…use your strength to help the old. If you are old, pass on your wisdom to the youth and help them to know and live godly lives.
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