When we see wrinkles and sun spots and spider veins, when hair starts to have more grey than natural colour, or when it starts disappearing altogether, and when muscles get soft and skin begins to sag, there's a dread that grips us all. And who doesn't miss jumping out of bed in the morning with the energy of a 20-year-old, but it’s not so much the number on our birthday card or the fact that we can’t play sports anymore that gets us disheartened.
No, it is the awareness that we are closer to the one thing in
life that makes everything equal; death is the great equalizer and the thing that should never be. It's the thing that Solomon tells us makes the whole of life vanity and a futile chasing after wind. Yet...
Aging, sickness, deterioration, (of which my body has seen a lot of since my mid 20's) and death preach the Gospel to us because they all point to the life-and-death story of the Gospel. So don’t ignore those spiritual emotions that come over you when you finally drag yourself out of bed and look in the mirror; they're not weird or unnatural. They make complete biblical and biological sense when you live life "under the sun" living with eternity in your heart.
God has placed eternity in our hearts, yet we live life always facing death; it's enough to make you bang your fist on the kitchen table, or beat against the wall in a doctor's office after hearing; "I'm so sorry, it's cancer".
When you look around you and listen, you will hear the horrible cries of the Fall mixing with the awesome celebrations of eternity. Allow the physical process of aging in the body to be a profoundly spiritual journey for your soul.
Please join us Sunday's at 11:00am as we journey through the Book of Ecclesiastes.