Good Monday morning to you my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
CHANGE is an important and very real part of human life every day, isn’t it? Some people welcome and thrive in change, other people resist change at all costs. I wonder how you anticipate and respond to change? Last week I spent four days with my 96yr old father in the Assisted Living facility where he lives. Dad and his friends, all in their elderly years, have lived long lives filled with change and at this advanced stage of life change for them is almost a daily experience as they age.
But I’m happy to tell you Dad and his friends are among the most content people I know. Can you guess why? They awaken each day confident their lives, their days, their hours, their every moment are all in the hands of God whom they fully trust. They anticipate that one day very soon they will see Jesus face to face in heaven and that gives them great joy in the face of change. How about you and me, my friends? With what attitudes do we handle the changes we face every day?
Last week we spent several days looking at a very powerful statement from God about God honoring LOVE found in Paul’s letter to his Corinthian Christian friends. Today let’s see what Paul writes next, for I think it will help us face change well. “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled, where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect will disappear.” (1 Cor. 13:8-10)
Do you see all the changes Paul is describing? When Paul speaks of prophecy and tongues and knowledge, of course he’s talking about some of the things many people in Corinth were regarding as the highest forms of spiritual maturity, yet Paul says change will bring all of them to an end eventually. Paul also points forward to a day when all will be perfect in God’s presence.
These elderly people I spent 4 days with long for that change to be their experience. Some of these elderly folks are WWII vets, many of them remember the difficult years their parents faced in and after the Great Depression. Just think for a moment what these dear people have seen and experienced in their nearly 100 years of life!!!! As I sit and listen to them, oh how grateful they are that Jesus has walked with them through their long lives and Jesus is now ready to take them home to heaven! Do you and I have those same attitudes, my friends?
Look at what Paul writes next, it’s very powerful: “When I was a child, I talked like a child; When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection in the mirror, but then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Cor. 13:11,12) Now we don’t have to be 96 years old to remember our childhood years, do we? And if you’re like me and most everyone else, as we look back to our childhood years, we sometimes cringe at the dumb things we said or did, right? Perhaps you have some scars on your body, as I do, which remind us of broken bones or injuries which were the result of childhood mishaps.
Let’s pause and ponder for a moment or two. Paul calls us to consider our speech… how does the way you talk today compare to how you talked as a kid? Of course, our talk reflects our thinking and our emotions, so again let’s compare the current state of our minds and hearts with what our minds and hearts were like in our young years.
What do you see my friends? How have you changed and what are the major contributors to those changes in you? Have you put away childish ways and sought to develop into a God honoring adult?
If you’ve ever spent much time around elderly folks, I’m sure you’ve found, as I did last week, many humorous and joyful things as these dear folks reflect on their long lives, lived. I am amazed at their wisdom, their life experiences, their accomplishments especially in times when resources were so few. There’s also the sometimes humorous reality that elderly folks in some ways are reverting back to their childhood years as they need assistance in mobility or remembering or even doing some of the basic tasks of life. Yet what a great privilege to help our aging parents and friends, remembering that in our early years, they helped us with the very same challenges!
Many of the folks I was with have failing hearing and eyesight, so Paul’s words seemed to fit perfectly: “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.” My father is nearly blind, as are several of his elderly friends, but the clarity of their minds gives them 20/20 vision when anticipating the moment, they will see Jesus face to face! The truth is, my friends, with things like virtual reality and artificial intelligence and ‘filters’ we cannot be sure that what we see with our eyes is actually real or true these days! Yet are you holding on tightly to the reality that with Jesus all things will be one day crystal clear when we are in HIS presence?
Are you also holding tightly to the daily reality that the Holy Spirit is ready to help us know truth in our very confusing world? That’s why Paul wrote his next sentence: “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” No matter our educational achievements we are all greatly limited in our knowledge, right? Some say the total available global information is doubling every few years and even the fastest computers cannot keep pace with global information change. But God is Omniscient, He knows ALL things past, present and future, does that truth give you hope and confidence in the face of rapid change?
Jesus promised us that the “the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth, He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” (John 16:13,14) That’s what I saw and heard from many of these dear elderly folks who love Jesus and long to be with Him in heaven. They love singing about and hearing about their future eternity with God when all things will be clear both to the eyes and to the minds and hearts! They celebrate Paul’s statement that now they are fully known by God. Every daily challenge in their aging process is completely understood by the God who made them. Do you have that confidence and contentment my friends?
Finally, Paul closes this powerful 13th chapter with these famous words: “Now these three remain: FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. But the greatest of these is LOVE.” (1 Cor. 13:13) Spending several days with folks in their 90’s helps put perspective on everything! What do you think will be important to you when you reach that age, my friends? FAITH is absolutely essential for these dear ‘senior saints’ as some would call them,
Faith that the Bible is true, Faith that Jesus is who He claimed to be and that His death, burial and resurrection are factual and the reason we can be forgiven of our sin and drawn into eternal relationship with God. Faith that heaven is real and awaiting those who have fully trusted in Jesus! Faith that God is holding my life in His hands every moment!
HOPE is also vital for these dear elderly folks. By this time of their lives most of them have outlived many of their friends; they’ve seen government leaders come and go; they’ve seen the economy rise and fall, and they will be quick to tell you their HOPE rests only in God!
But Paul says the greatest of these is LOVE. Oh my, the love I have seen this week! Elderly men walking hand in hand with their dear elderly wives, cherishing another day together. Love shown in patience and kindness as they watch their friends struggle with Dementia or Alzheimer’s. Love shown as they serve one another, help one another, pray with and for one another, encourage one another in this elderly stage of life when for almost all of them their kids, grandkids and great grandkids are far away.
Yes, the LOVE of God sustains these dear folks every day and they delight in passing on that love to others in such God honoring ways it brought tears to my eyes often this past week. So, my friends, how energetically are you and I receiving God’s love for us and then pouring His love out to our very needy world?
It’s time to pause, ponder, pray and worship, and here’s another great song…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Cor. 13:13.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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