August 29, 2010

• Calling all OLDER WOMEN!

  Being ‘middle aged’ has it’s challenges just as every season of life but there are also a lot of positive things to say about getting older. There is a sense of regained freedom that we haven’t been acquainted with since the early years of marriage before children started to arrive. Once the children arrived we spent several decades pouring our lives into training them.  Sleepless nights with wee ones, babies who didn’t want to nurse, long physically draining days trying to keep up with toddlers, and the challenge of training teenagers and preparing them to ‘go solo’. Good memories, possibly some painful memories.. all woven into a beautiful tapestry called family that fills our hearts.

  So, now we find ourselves at a crossroads.. so to speak. The opportunity for more babies to fill our arms is probably not a reality for most of us. If we are blessed with grandchildren they help to fill that longing. What a great plan of God to invent grandmother’s.. a kind plan for older mothers to still be surrounded with little ones to hold with less of the physical toil involved.

  Because our strength is starting to dwindle (just a tad) and the insurmountable task of child training is behind us I can see how easy it would be to sit back and let the remaining years drift away in fruitless pursuits.  Let’s face it, we worked hard the past 20 plus years.  It would take no effort to join the masses who spend their final years traveling, sleeping away the mornings, reading romance novels, maintaining old hobbies and learning new ones, antique shopping .. the list is endless.  Now, while the activities I listed may not be sinful (except possibly the romance novels?) as an occasional pursuit I can see how a continual lifestyle of focusing on our own pleasures could steal our effectiveness for being used to build God’s kingdom and bring Him glory.

  God’s Word is not silent when speaking to older women. Here are just a few passages that speak directly to us:

  1 Tim 5:9-16: This passage is a list of those eligible for ministry according to Pastor John MacArthur. *

  * I should have a reputation for good works

  * I should show hospitality.

  * I should wash the feet of the saints.

  * I should care for the afflicted.

  * I should devote myself to every good work.

  * I should help take care of the widow’s in my family.

  Another passage of scripture that should be directing my days after my children are grown is Titus 2:3-5:

  * I am to be reverent in my behavior.

  * I am not to slander.

  * I am not to be a slave to much wine.

  * I am to teach what is good.

  * I am to train the younger women to love their husbands and children, be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind submissive to their own husbands. (which means I must be pursuing these things, also!) 

  -  I am to do these things that the word of God may not be blasphemed.  

  These are only two Scriptures among many that should be directing the decision on how I spend my last days here on earth.  We didn’t even look at the scriptures that speak to using our spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4) to build up the body of Christ or the long list of ‘One Anothers’.

  Crafts, shopping as a recreation,  and ‘collecting’ used to monopolize more time in my younger years. The days are fleeting and I likely have less days left on this earth than I’ve already lived. I don’t want to let those hours slip through my hands but my desire is to live a principled, determined life built on Scripture. Does that mean that I will never sew anything again for the rest of my life? Probably not since I sewed two pillowcases to save money this past week. Or take a vacation? The difference is that I don’t want my life focused around entertaining myself to fill the hours and squeeze out the time to obey God’s specific commands.  I want the bulk of my days to be built around pursuits that are commanded in His Word and then fill the LEFTOVER time with other pleasures.

   I heard it once explained this way… imagine a glass jar as representing your life.. you then fill the jar with large rocks which represent God’s commands for your life. Next,  pour sand in to fill up the holes. The sand represents those activities not commanded in Scripture. I think that is a wonderful visual of the importance that should be placed on God’s commands for our life.

  An older woman has more opportunities to serve now that her children are grown. Once our daily duties are met at home we can use the extra time that once was spent in training our children to minister to the body of Christ. Are there needs in your local church that are not being met? Can you come alongside your husband and support him in his ministry? Are there widows or orphans in your family that need help? Are you ministering to the sick and afflicted? Are you using your spiritual gift to build up the body of Christ?

  May our remaining years bring God more glory than our younger ones.  Let’s get to work, ladies!

   

   

   

   

   *  (There is no evidence that all the widows on the list were supported by the church. Some no doubt were, while others had resources of their own. The issue of support stops at verse 8, and Paul moves to a new topic in verse 9. The list Paul refers to was not, as some have argued, the list of those widows eligible for support. Rather, it was the list of those eligible for ministry. In verses 9-10 Paul gives the requirements for being on the list. (from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Copyright © Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2007.))

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