A Good Old Age
Dave Faust
The Bible says, "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone" (Colossians 4:6). I thought of that verse recently when I came across a well-worn book published in 1891 by the English preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon. The book is called The Salt-Cellars: Being a Collection of Proverbs, Together With Homely Notes Thereon—a rather long title for a book full of short quotes!
The book's cover says, "These three things go to the making of a proverb: shortness, sense, and salt." Here are some interesting quotes I gleaned from the book:
Prayer is the key of the morning and the lock of the night.
No man is the worse for knowing the worst of himself.
Not to break is better than to mend.
When an ignorant man knows himself to be ignorant, he is no longer ignorant.
Pray to God, sailor, but pull for the shore.
Mind what is preached, more than how it is preached.
When the world is bitter, the Word is sweet.
Take no advice from a person who never takes advice.
The right way leads to the right place.
Make home happy, and you will be happy at home.
One fact is worth a ship-load of opinions.
Sometimes 'tis wise to shut one's eyes.
Old gold, old truths, and old friends, these are treasures to the end.
Sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.
Of course, God already gave us a book filled with wonderful proverbs. Many of them speak about growing in wisdom. Some of them talk about aging gracefully and righteously. For example: "Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life" (Proverbs 16:31).
Some people grow older and wiser. Some merely grow older. Some, like King Ahab, grow increasingly evil and self-centered as they age. Others, like the apostle John, become more loving and tender-hearted, full of grace and truth. And some use the last season of their lives like Gideon, a flawed but faithful servant of God who the Bible says "died at a good old age" after his land "enjoyed peace forty years" (Judges 8:28, 32). Some aspects of aging aren't good, but we can truly experience "a good old age" if we're filled with the wisdom, peace, and power of the Lord. It's largely a matter of choice. Will we decide to remain faithful as long as we live? Will we make it our goal to finish well?
Another line from Spurgeon's book sums it up this way: "Old is the boat, but it still keeps afloat."
This column first appeared in The Lookout on Sep 30, 2001.
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