Jump Start # 3687

Proverbs 20:29 “The glory of young men is their strength, and the honor of old men is their gray hair.”

Young men and old men—such is life. If one lives long enough he will experience both. And, the contrasts that this passage brings out, builds upon the experiences and maturity that comes with time. There are some things that only time, faith, and experience can teach a person. One can have the book smarts, but until he has walked down some paths in life, it is hard to understand.

This may be one reason that leaders in the church are referred to as “elders” and one of the qualities is that they were not to be a new convert, as the NAS words it. Maturity. Learning things. Having some miles on the heart. The wisdom literature states, “I have been young and now I am old…”

Here are some lessons from this:

First, we must appreciate the gray hair among us in our churches. These folks have worshipped for decades. They have seen troubles, trials and when things haven’t gone according to plans. They have prayed a thousand prayers and listened to hundreds and hundreds of sermons. They have worn out Bibles, cried with other saints and seen the disappointment when some chose to walk no more with the Lord.

Our culture is driven by youth. Most of the commercials, except the ones for medicine, have young people in them. And, it is easy in our congregations to dismiss the thoughts of the senior saints as being traditional and out of touch. Often those words are said when in reality the proper expression is Biblical. The passion and energy of the youth needs to understand the wisdom of the aged.

I know of a congregation that takes a Sunday night now and then and has a special Bible study in which all ages sit together in the auditorium. The purpose is to get the young hearts to hear the voice of the shepherds and the senior saints. Most times we are divided up in our classrooms by ages and a young person never gets to hear the comments of an older Christian. The shepherds complimenting a fifth grader and then adding his own thoughts to the discussion. What a rich and wonderful experience that could be.

Second, we must work hard to blend together the ages within a congregation. Often there is a tug of war that takes place. Faster, new songs verses the older, well known songs. This way verses that way. Senior saints must not be sticks in the mud and be opposed to things just because they are different. Methods change. Methods come and go. We must not be wed to one way of doing things. The Biblical model never changes, but the generational one often does and needs to. Young people can be discouraged because any suggestion they make is met with an immediate “No,” because it’s never been done that way before. Using that logic, we’d still be using party telephone lines, driving cars with no seat belts and using funeral fans to cool us down.

Teaching the difference between Biblical and Generational models helps smooths things out.

Third, many mistakes could be avoided if young and old communicated better. No one ought to feel threatened because of a generational difference. No one ought to be dismissed or discounted because of age. It was a young servant girl that brought healing to the Syrian Naaman. He could have thought that she was too young to know anything.

Older women are to teach younger women, Titus was told. How we diaper a baby may be different and how we cook food may be foreign to some, but the issues of life such as worry, fear and doubt still circle around us. It is faith that drives those things out. One generation may not fully understand the other generation, but together they can bring so much to the kingdom of God. Together, they can be a blessing to the community. Together, they can show the world what unity, love and grace looks like.

Gray hair—not such a bad thing.

Roger