Mar
30
Aim To Be Left
Filed Under Devotional
My church introduced a new elder this morning. Hearing just a taste of his life story was inspiring. Tom is now ninety-one years old and still a sharp man of God. He has been a Christian for seventy-two years. He’s been married for sixty-eight. In a church full of youth and young adults, Tom and his wife stand out. But, they are flocked by those same young people every Sunday. The love of God shines from both of them and it is clear that they are role models for us all.
I just love seeing a man still vigorous for God after all that time. Clearly, he has much to offer to us since God has seen fit to leave him with us for so long.
Our pastor made the parallel with Caleb and I loved the imagery from this scene. As the conquest of Canaan is ending, Caleb comes to Joshua and asks for the inheritance that Moses promised him forty-five years earlier.
“Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Joshua 14:10-12
Here’s a man that has paid his dues and earned a vacation. And, yet, he demands the hill country that’s still occupied by fortified enemies. He wants to continue with God’s work well after most men have headed home. God had plans for him.
I got that same impression about Tom and it was invigorating. I can only hope to serve God so well that He finds ways to use me into my nineties. I can only hope to be as energetic as Tom when I reach that age.
There’s a goal: Aim to be so useful to God that He’ll leave you here to do His work. Now, that sounds exciting!