How many of you have heard the "When I was your age" stories for your mom and dad? Let me go one step further and ask have many of you have told your children or your grandchildren those same kind of stories? It's kind of funny that we have become our parents in our older age.
I remember a time when getting older didn't mean getting cranky, mean, or mad all the time. In fact, some of my greatest heroes of the faith as I was growing up were men that were my age now (57) and older. They represented to me a generation that had learned to persevere through just about everything with very few complaints. They knew what to do, how to do, and seemed to enjoy life a whole lot better than people of that same age or older today. So can somebody tell me why so many older people have lost their joy in life and their attitudes have soured on themselves and others as well?
Please understand this doesn't apply to everyone. There are some precious folks who have aged gracefully and have a wonderful attitude still today. But man, there are some that you just don't even want to be around because there is so much negative energy that comes off of them and affects everyone around them. Why have the times changed so much that we see those that are the closest to going home to be with the Jesus get so lackadaisical in their relationship with the Lord?
I remember a time when getting older didn't mean getting cranky, mean, or mad all the time. In fact, some of my greatest heroes of the faith as I was growing up were men that were my age now (57) and older. They represented to me a generation that had learned to persevere through just about everything with very few complaints. They knew what to do, how to do, and seemed to enjoy life a whole lot better than people of that same age or older today. So can somebody tell me why so many older people have lost their joy in life and their attitudes have soured on themselves and others as well?
Please understand this doesn't apply to everyone. There are some precious folks who have aged gracefully and have a wonderful attitude still today. But man, there are some that you just don't even want to be around because there is so much negative energy that comes off of them and affects everyone around them. Why have the times changed so much that we see those that are the closest to going home to be with the Jesus get so lackadaisical in their relationship with the Lord?
Here's just a few thoughts that come to mind:
(1) I've done my time.
Some older folks treat service to God and church like service on a job or a place of employment. Nowhere in the Bible do I read where anyone regardless of age or sickness ever retires from His Kingdom service. The only retirement plan that I know is the one that comes after death or the rapture (whichever comes first). For the remainder of the time we are to be active in the Kingdom work for our Lord. The worst attitudes I have ever dealt with as a pastor are from those people who think because of the years they have put in they should receive a honorable discharge from His service. I'm glad Caleb at 85 still had the drive to take a mountain for the glory of God. We need some folks who will say regardless of age I'm in it for the long haul and ready to be about my Father's business.
(2) Squatters rights.
That was a problem when the old west was being civilized. Squatters would move in and lay claim to territory that wasn't theirs to begin with. It's a shame when we look at half empty sanctuaries today that the main reason is because of those who think they have Squatters rights. It's those folk who have bought a pew, chair, choir robe, offering plate or something in the church that has to be replaced because it is broken or no longer efficient. It's the folks that have to sit in the same place every service and when a new family or individual comes in and accidently sits there sets of WW3. It's those folks who are usually set in their ways and want what they want regardless of who it hurts.
(1) I've done my time.
Some older folks treat service to God and church like service on a job or a place of employment. Nowhere in the Bible do I read where anyone regardless of age or sickness ever retires from His Kingdom service. The only retirement plan that I know is the one that comes after death or the rapture (whichever comes first). For the remainder of the time we are to be active in the Kingdom work for our Lord. The worst attitudes I have ever dealt with as a pastor are from those people who think because of the years they have put in they should receive a honorable discharge from His service. I'm glad Caleb at 85 still had the drive to take a mountain for the glory of God. We need some folks who will say regardless of age I'm in it for the long haul and ready to be about my Father's business.
(2) Squatters rights.
That was a problem when the old west was being civilized. Squatters would move in and lay claim to territory that wasn't theirs to begin with. It's a shame when we look at half empty sanctuaries today that the main reason is because of those who think they have Squatters rights. It's those folk who have bought a pew, chair, choir robe, offering plate or something in the church that has to be replaced because it is broken or no longer efficient. It's the folks that have to sit in the same place every service and when a new family or individual comes in and accidently sits there sets of WW3. It's those folks who are usually set in their ways and want what they want regardless of who it hurts.
The last church I served voted to do a complete remodeling of our facility, including replacing two rows of long pews with 3 shorter rows. The church voted 100% to do the work. I told anyone and everyone that had bought a pew 20 years before that if they wanted that pew they could have it, but nobody seemed to want them. Until...one little lady let it be known she didn't like it because we were getting rid of the pew that she and her late husband had bought 20 years before. What an outrage that we would do away with such a piece of history. I very nicely called her when I heard her complaint through her mouthpiece (because she wasn't brave enough or honest enough to talk to me in person) and asked her where she wanted HER pew delivered. It was 15 1/2 feet long so the only place it would fit would have been on her porch. I told her I had two men who would help me bring it to her-we just need to know where she wanted it put when we got there. "Oh pastor, there's been a misunderstanding," she said; "You do what you need to do with the old pew because I don't have a place for it."
She was also the one who complained through her mouthpiece that we ought to at least take the plaques of the pews that were purchased and give them back to the people that bought them. As far as I know when I left there she still hadn't picked up her name plaque taken off of that old pew.
Yes, I know things have sentimental value, but if I took every pew with me that Becky and I have bought in churches throughout the years I could fill up a small sanctuary. If I took every piece of equipment that I have left behind for the next pastor that I bought, I wouldn't have to buy anything else to start a new church. When I left Union I left over $2,000.00 worth of Audio/Video equipment that I could have used at my present church. But I did so because I knew the church would use it and didn't have the funds to replace what was mine. They did swap me a $450.00 microphone (which died on me just a few weeks after I moved) for some of the equipment, but I would have been better off if I just taken my stuff and bought a new microphone. Yet again, I knew they were using my equipment and I wanted those ministries to continue even after I was gone as their pastor. I had dedicated it to God and I wanted it to continue in the Lord's work. I didn't get a tax receipt for it, but I made sure the church knew that it was my equipment that I was leaving behind so that those ministries could continue on in the church and the community.
You see, God does not recognize Squatters Rights. Once you give something to God it belongs to Him. You can't make things last any longer than they will last and styles and times do change. If we can remember that we will all be a whole lot better off the next time the word "change" comes up in a situation.
Just because it's always been done one way, doesn't means it's the only way. The only thing in most of our lives that hasn't changed is God's love for us. The rest has and will continue to do the older we get. The solution is simple-either we understand and make the changes necessary for growth and expansion of the Kingdom, or we assume Squatters Rights and dry up and die.
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