Honoring our Elderly
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land
which the Lord your God is giving you." Exodus 20:12
This commandment, the fifth overall but the first concerning our horizontal
relationships here on earth, is repeated in three of the four Gospels (Matthew
15:4; Mark 7:10; and Luke 18:20) as well as in Ephesians 6:2. So, I think it's fair to assume that God really means it when He says we are to
honor our parents.
Webster's defines the word honor as "outward respect" and lists among its
synonyms the words "homage", "reverence", "deference" and "obeisance." Simply put, we are to honor or revere our parents by obeying them.
In I Timothy 5, Paul admonishes his young protégé and others in the church to treat an "older man…as a father" and "older women as mothers." While I don't think he intended to confer all the rights of parenthood on these
elderly brothers and sisters in the Lord, I do believe that there is an
underlying principle to his admonishment.
The positive way of stating this principle would be "listen to what the elderly
have to say. They have lived a long life and learned much in the process." The negative version would be "don't put the elderly out to pasture."
Sadly, in many of our churches today, both the positive and negative versions
are being ignored…sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally so. As Christianity continues its relentless quest to mirror the world instead of
running counter to it, our elderly are becoming unintended waste products of
this maniacal pursuit. Instead of seeking their advice and relying on their collective wisdom, we all
too often relegate them to the sidelines - or in our case, to the back pew.
"Young people are the future of the church" is our rallying cry and it's hard to
argue with that premise. However, following that same logic, the elderly are our
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present or at the very least, our recent past.
Truth be told, we are afraid that they will resist all of the changes we deem so
necessary. And to a point, I understand that rationale because some senior citizens fall
into that category. However, there are scores of forward-thinking seniors who are willing to weigh
each proposed change on its merits and to decide accordingly.
In Japan, someone under the age of 50 is considered too immature to rule the
country. In fact, many of their governmental leaders are in their 70's and 80's. And yet, Japan is one of the most technologically-advanced societies on the
planet with a robust economy to boot. Maybe, just maybe, they're on to something!
I am not advocating churches run exclusively by octogenarians. However, I think it's biblical to have a healthy balance of mature believers in
charge…and that includes those 65 and older.
I'm 48 years old and so, I think I am in a position to see both points of view. Yes, the elderly should be preparing to "pass the baton" of leadership to the
next generation, but not prematurely. In times like these, we desperately need their counsel and experience.
So, I guess my unsolicited advice would be for the elderly to lead by example
and for those next in line to pay close attention. And to the youth…well, wait your turn!
Dale M. Glading
dglading@saintsprisonministry.org
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