I tried to fix a font problem on the last blog post and ended up losing it completely....sigh. I changed some settings on the format of the blog, and hope it will help resolve some of the problems I was encountering....we'll see.....
You've heard it said that
age is just a number....
...and it's usually said to flatter someone on their ever increasing number of birthdays or by a person of the higher range who wants to "date" someone of lesser number of years but however then that usually only works if the person that is the more aged also has a greater accumulation of dollars in their bank accounts, but is that truly all there is.....really?
To say those words "age is just a number" seem so callous to me, as if the years we spend here are nothing more than valueless days adding up to empty years that contain nothing more than a digit or two attached. The older gentleman seeking the company of a much younger companion soon finds out that the difference between them is much more than simply a few extra years in between. The generational difference cannot be "fixed" with cosmetic surgery, hair plugs, and a pithy saying. When I talk with my grandchildren some of the things I used to do when I was their age, or when I mention a favourite old movie actor, and they then look at me quizzically to say "who?" ...after two or three minutes of trying to explain it to them I see that they have lost interest but are pretending to care to spare my feelings, and then I have to wonder what these "autumn - spring romance" couples can even talk about, besides food and the weather, and the possible problems of other family members viewing that youngster as simply a gold digger hoping for a large inheritance.
As a Christian I look at the years that have gone by and what the Lord has done in my life. How can an atheist exclaim that "there is no God" and still find a reason to live, if each day adds up to years of numbers that contain nothing of eternal value? Oh, but they will say that it is to pass on their wisdom and love to children and grandchildren....but those children and grandchildren also will add up to eternal nothings (according to that foolish logic) who will spent years that eventually will add up to nothing, and for what? What is it all for, if there is no God? I've never had one atheist explain that sad fact to me, not even once....and I think that perhaps the incredible increases in depression and suicides are explained by this same foolish logic coming to it's logical empty conclusion.
The Bible says "The fool says in his heart 'There is no God' " Psalm 14:1
Psalm 14:1-5
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD. There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.
Oh, but they will tell you that they are a "good person", and that they have no need of "a god" to be good. Hypocrites! We have all fallen short. We have all done something or other that requires our repentance, an apology, an act of penance to try to make up for our missteps... but that doesn't require the intervention of a Creator, does it?...well, in order for it to really be true, it does require His interaction with our action, or else it is fake, done for selfish ends to get our get out of the performance...to get others to like us, or give us what we want...but the act is not therefore sincerely done with the mindset of our sinfulness, our need to humble ourselves by the fact of our shortcomings. Only the grace of God can supply that Truth, the inner conviction of the fact that we cannot be perfect and require the graciousness of others to be considered any good at all.
And so, as the years go by, are there any good and true things that are stored up in those years for you? Or are they simply empty of any meaning, just moments wasted going through the motions, and then a waiting to die?
Ecc 1:2-3; 2:7-8; 3:8-9; 12:13-14
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Let us therefore be wise and walk circumspectly knowing that each moment is given to us, a gift and a treasure from our Lord and our Creator and Saviour. Let us live lives that are numbered with the fullness and richness of lives fulfilled and meaningful, lives that when we reach our mortal end, we can look back with wonder and gratitude to a generous and merciful God who has graced us with many good things.
