Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth. – Psalm 71:9
Most of my peers do not use computers, and I believe they have missed out on one of the greatest inventions. At seventy-two years of age, I am sitting in my office writing devotionals for our website, which I will send via the internet to our publishing headquarters several hundred miles away. While I do not understand a whole lot about computers, I am enjoying my limited knowledge. They allow me to communicate with friends around the world through e-mail, and even send pictures of my wife’s beautiful German pancakes while they are still warm to our son in South Africa!
For those who are getting older, the benefits of technology may not seem useful enough to validate the effort required to keep up with it. Yet, doing so can be helpful to maintaining a ministry for God among the youth in our communities. Those of us who have been around for a while likely have something to offer young people in the way of advice, experience, and encouragement, but sometimes crossing the generation gap can seem like finding common ground between people of different worlds. Doing a little investigative work about that “other world” can go a long way.
In recent years, I offered to buy one of my grandsons a pair of sunglasses. At that time, I was wearing a pair of my favorite sunglasses, and he remarked to me, “Grandpa, if you get me a pair of sunglasses, I do not want any like what you are wearing.” Now, I was wearing my expensive Ray-Bans that I had paid sixty dollars for many years ago. Out of style yes, out of my mind no! I was still holding on to that high dollar figure, even if people looked at me twice and scratched their heads when they saw me wearing them. However, after that experience, I sold my sunglasses at a garage sale and bought a more up-to-date pair. It was a small sacrifice on my part, but as a result I have helped close the gap between my grandson and myself.
It is important that as we age, we pray, “Lord, help me to grow old gracefully, and to understand what that means.” If we do that, our later years can be the best days of our lives. Right now, I know the names of all the young people in our fairly large congregation, and enjoy conversing with each of them. Hopefully, because of these relationships, they will feel comfortable asking me for help or advice when they need it. But you can be sure I am not wearing my old sunglasses!
We know God will not cast us off in our old age, but we do not want younger generations to do so either. It will take some extra effort to learn and keep up with things like e-mail and modern fashion, but remember, God can keep the inner man renewed day by day. Sell those old glasses!