On Tuesday we spoke about 'special days' mentioned in scripture, thoughts that were prompted as it was my baby's first birthday. To further expand on thought I thought we might look at 3 phases of life that are specifically mentioned in scripture. Again as with Tuesday I have used this in relation to the gospel primarily but you could quite happily adapt the framework and develop a line of practical teaching from it I am sure.
"Baby" - Psalm 51:5
"Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me"
The word 'shapen' means to writhe/twist or bring forth, the idea of pain is also carried with it so the picture is of a mother in labour as she brings her baby into the world. Those of us who are parents will acknowledge that it is a sobering thought to look at a newborn baby and realise that their new addition is a sinner that needs to be saved! This verse teaches us this and also that we don't have to sin to be a sinner, we are born with this serious problem. It doesn't take very long for sin to manifest itself in the life of a young baby, as a new parent I can testify to that! The practical point is that we need to emphasize the problem of sin in our gospel preaching and witnessing - sin is universal and endemic in each and every person brought into the world, and we need to have this dealt with and get right with God.
"Youth" - Ecclesiastes 12:1
"Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth"
It is while we are young that the Word of God exhorts us to repent of our sin and put faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. There is no better time to get right with God than when we are young and can devote the majority of our life to God and our youthful energy to his service. With that said there is an important word here regardless of our stage of life - NOW. Even if our youth has long gone, the scriptures always emphasize the need to get right with God now, and we must stress this point when preaching to both young and old. It is also interesting to note that this verse refers to God as the creator. This of course is perfectly true and teaches us that we should never shy away from referring to him as such either from the gospel platform or in our personal witness and testimony. The Word of God teaches it, it is true and we believe it, no matter what the world says!
"Old age" - Genesis 27:1-2
"Behold now, I am old..."
We referred to this verse in Tuesday's post and it fits in nicely here as well. In relation to the gospel we can emphasize the brevity and uncertainty of life and the need to settle our eternal destination in time. There is however plenty of scope to apply this to ourselves and our relationships with our older brethren and sisters. In my lifetime I have been privileged to have known older saints either in my family or in my local church that have taken an interest in me and encouraged me to go on in the things of God. Some of them have since gone home to glory and it is now that I miss their fellowship and warm encouragement. My application is this - we should cultivate and value such older believers and seek to spend time in conversation with them and encourage each other together. They have been on the Christian pathway for far longer than us and can pass on their experience and wisdom to us if we are willing to listen and learn.
These are only simple thoughts, maybe viewers of the blog can offer their comments and suggestions for further growth of this study in the comments section below for our mutual benefit?
Yours in Christ,
Mark
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