The Mirage of Youth

(Proverbs 20:29 KJV)  The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.

Beware of cultural norms.  We live in a society that thinks the young people are the hope of the future and the promise of the present.  That is not the Biblical view.  The Bible puts the hope of the future on the “old men” (2205).  The most common translation of this Hebrew word is “elder”.  The church has adopted this term to refer to those who have a position of spiritual authority.  While wisdom and maturity do not always come with age, they rarely come with youth.

Beware of cultural norms.  Those of us who are in the sunset years need to step up to the plate and work to train the youth of today.  They will be the elders of tomorrow.  Don’t expect the schools and colleges to give them what they need, they can’t.  They won’t.  They will poison them with the lies of a secular culture if possible.

So?  If you are under 40 look for someone with life experience and spiritual maturity and learn from them.  If you are over 40 and are not ready to lead, find someone over 60 and listen to their opinions.  If you are the elder then you need to keep in constant contact with the Lord of the Universe so that you can provide leadership.  I am not making this up.  If you think I am, go back and read the verse again.