Paul, the Aged

“Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.” -Philemon 9

Where did the time go?

What we were, we, in many ways, still are.

In other ways, it does not seem that we still are what we were.

In still other ways, we are more.

Among the things we may be now and we never were before, is aged.

We are older than we were. Not only are we older, but we have become prisoners of Jesus Christ in ways that have developed over the years.

We have become locked in by limitations of age, restrictions of circumstance, and progressions of health impediments.

We have seen some opportunities pass us by. If we focus upon our infirmities, we might believe that we have fewer options and bleaker prospects.

That would be a fallacy, but we will continue to indulge it for a moment.

We are all heading in the direction of advancing years. It can be depressing.

Enough of that now!

That is, let us call “enough” to bemoaning the onsets of age. Paul’s stance is not that advancing age is something to groan over but something to celebrate.

We celebrate age with all of its lessons. Those lessons are not just for our benefit, but for the benefit of the young. With them come special responsibilities and higher standards:

“That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things … “-Titus 2:2-3

We, who have walked longer miles have great capacity of sobriety, gravity, temperance, faith, charity, and patience along with holiness and honesty. These are teaching tools for our use in instructing and setting an example for the next generation.

It is from that stance that Paul is able to beseech Philemon, as one who is his elder, to do the right thing at a critical time in his life.

Others have done that for you and you have or will have the opportunity to do it for others.

By the Way …

Unless you are a Hydra, aging is inevitable. So make the very best of it. It was meant for the best.

"Hydra is a genus of small, fresh-water organisms of the phylum Cnidaria and class Hydrozoa. They are native to the temperate and tropical regions. Biologists are especially interested in Hydra because of their regenerative ability — they do not appear to die of old age, or indeed to age at all." – Wikipedia

You can do this!

“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand who saith, 'A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!”
― Robert Browning

Photo By Coveredinsevindust at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link