Recently I turned fifty-four years of age.
I have been a follower of Jesus Christ now for forty-five years. I have been a pastor of the same church, Vanguard Church of Colorado Springs, Colorado for the past twenty-eight years. All these numbers are more than numbers; they represent the faithfulness of God in my life as a person and in my ministry as a pastor.
Fifty-four years represents the number of years I have been given so far to live for Jesus. What about you? How many years are you right now? Like me, I invite you to see your age as more than a number. See it as the number of years God has given you so far to live for Him and for Him to demonstrate to you His faithfulness to you in those years.
My prayer for you and for me is, “Lord, if you give us more years, I pray they will be lived for you.”
As I take inventory of my life at age fifty-four, I realize my physical body is obviously slowly wasting away but my spirit is being renewed day by day. The Apostle Paul said it to the Corinthians like this, “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)
Aging in these “jars of clay” is a good thing! It teaches us many things, it especially teaches us we are not God, and we don’t have the power God has. I wake up every day to this reality in greater ways with each passing year God faithfully entrusts to me here on this earth.
My physical body is passing away! Your physical body is passing away. With each year we are racing toward that final enemy on earth called death. It is the last enemy God will defeat before we meet Jesus face to face.
As I age toward that final enemy called death, I look back at my life of fifty-four years so far. My age is more than a number; it represents God’s faithfulness to me and what He has taught me in this five plus decade adventure so far. I want to share with you ten things I have learned from my fifty-four years of God’s faithfulness to me.
#1: Pain is a constant!
Job said it best, “Man’s days are few and full of trouble.” (Job 14:1)
Expect the same to be true in your life. But know pain will be used by God to teach you about Him. Jesus learned obedience through suffering and so will we. Let pain’s heavenly purpose be fulfilled in your earthly life.
#2: Confusion is a companion.
With greater age comes more awareness that much of your life will be confusing to you. The moments in the past and present will confuse you and will make your understanding of the future more difficult to grasp. But rest in this, “Before one day was God knew them all to be.” (Psalm 139:16) Your days may be confusing to you but not to God. He is not surprised by the things you have experienced in your past or present nor in your future. If you keep loving God, He will take everything in your life and work it for your good. (Romans 8:28) You can know and trust that, even in your confusion.
#3: Hope is a coach.
Proverb says, “Lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) If you trust in the Lord, if you put your hope in Him, He will coach you. He will direct you. When I was in college at Liberty University back in the early 1990’s, I met a man named Mr. Gleason. He had bushy silver eyebrows; the kind I imagine Moses had in his old age. I remember Mr. Gleason looking at me and saying, “When you don’t know what to do, ask God and He will tell you and when He tells you, do it. And if you do it, He will make you look a lot smarter than you are.” I have tried to live by this principle in my life.
#4: Betrayal is a coward.
“Though the world forsake you, Jesus never will.” As a father of five I taught this phrase to my children in their childhood, Like Jesus, every one of us will experience betrayal in this life. It is a part of the narrative of our lives. It is part of the redemptive story of our lives. Know the betrayers of your life will remain in the shadows of your life and live in the margins of your sorrows. Just remember, you wrestle not against flesh and blood. Your enemy doesn’t have a human name. His name is Satan. Paul says, “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14) Satan is an angelic being, just not an angel of light. Know the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy but Jesus comes to give you life and give it to you more abundantly. (John 10:10) Rest in his power and don’t go chasing the shadows of your life. It takes more courage to stay in the ring of God’s purpose for your life and let the cowards shoot at you from the shadows. You keep going for Jesus! As my Professor John Hannah from Dallas Seminary said, “Don’t quit, don’t fornicate, you will be the only one left, and you will be great!”
#5: Peace is a caravan.
Do you know what a caravan is? It is what accompanies you across a desert. Peace is a caravan. It will accompany you through the deserts of your life. Paul tells us that God’s peace will accompany us and surpass all understanding. It will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7) This means God’s peace is better than understanding what has happened, what is happening, or what will happen. I love that accompaniment from God’s peace. God gives peace not as the world gives it. The peace God gives us let’s go of control and trusts Him. That’s a caravan worth hanging out with in the deserts of our lives. Ask Him for His peace.
#6: Failure is a chapter.
As the song writer Cory Asbury says, “Failure is never final when the Father is in the room.” Failure is not the book of your life. It is a chapter, meaning, it is never final. With Jesus in your heart, the destiny is heaven. All of us fixate on our failures. All of us have regrets in our lives. All of us need a mulligan or two or three in the story and relationships of our lives. Failure with Jesus is never final because where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. (Romans 5:20-21) Thank you, Jesus! The Bible says a righteous person falls seven times, but they get up again. (Proverbs 24:16) The difference between the righteous and unrighteous is, the righteous get up an eighth time! Claim that promise for yourself today and get up, again!
#7: Success is a caboose.
My philosophy in life is, “Start slow, finish fast.” Fresh from graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary, I read a book by Steve Farrar called, “Finish Strong.” The book said, “Nine out of ten won’t finish strong for God.” Soon after reading that book, my wife and I moved to Colorado Springs to start Vanguard Church with the Southern Baptist Church. My Professor Bill Lawerence from the Hendricks Leadership Center at Dallas Theological Seminary came to visit me when I was in a season of exceptional discouragement. I will never forget what he said to me. He said, “Kelly, you are more than a number, and one day you will realize that!” Prof Lawerence, I have accepted it. Thank you!
#8: Wisdom is a camel.
Have you ever ridden a camel? Not an exceptionally enjoyable experience in my opinion. But I find wisdom to be like riding a camel. It is not normal and natural but more effective and far more productive than walking across the deserts of life on my own two feet. Some wisdom can be read and applied, and some must be lived and experienced to garner the right amount of clarity for the next time. When God came to Solomon and said, “Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it.” Solomon replied, “Give me wisdom to govern your people well.” (1 Kings 3:9) The best transportation in this life is the wisdom of God. It is more costly than pearls but worth the cost. Above all, get the wisdom of God from the Word of God. I highly recommend reading the Word of God every day and applying it to that day and all your days. Wisdom is the Word! It will carry you where you can’t carry yourself, across the emotional, relational, physical, and spiritual deserts of your life.
#9: Faithfulness is a crown.
The Apostle Paul says, “Every athlete (in this life) exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.” Paul then told Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness the Lord will reward me on that day.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8) We run for a crown not of this life but the life to come. Live every day as if it is your last and one day you will be right. On that day Jesus will meet you there to reward you with the crown you have faithfully run to receive. He will say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”
#10: Eternity is the conclusion.
Live with the end in mind. My favorite all time scene is from the movie, “Braveheart.” William Wallace played by Mel Gibson says, “Would you trade all the days of your life to be able to say one day, ‘You may take my life, but you will never take my freedom.’” I would modify that to, “You may take my life, but you will never take my eternity, thanks to Jesus!” I like to say, “if you have a pulse, you have pain, but you also have a purpose!” Pain is a constant in this temporary earthly life, but eternity and its reward is forever!
This is what fifty-four years of life entrenched in the Word of God has taught me so far.
One day my physical body will loose me and my soul will meet Jesus. Paul says it best, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. (2 Corinthians 5:1-2)
May that occasion be my fixation!
Thank you for life, Jesus, eternal life!
Blessings,
Pastor Kelly
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