image created by Merrill Lynch
I recently started back at playing soccer. I’ve loved the sport since I was little, but living in America made hard to find games. Now as I play I can remember what I should do but find it hard to get my body to respond appropriately. I have also noticed my body aches more afterwards than it used to. Some say that’s just the effects of getting older.
In a few months, I will turn the monumental 40 years old. People will say that is when I hit over the hill. “The prime of life will be behind you.”
I don’t want to come into agreement with these statements. What we believe sets the stage for what we become. If I believe life will only go downhill from here, I will look for circumstances to “prove” my beliefs until my life will truly go downhill.
When my girls were babies, they would get the admiration cute babies get. Unfortunately, people would like to follow this with the warning, “just wait until they turn two,” or “beware of the terrible two’s.” I understand that many parents have a hard time with their kids at this age, but why come into agreement that this is going to happen?
My wife and I made a commitment to not agree with those statements and instead to declare how amazing our girls were. We said that their hearts were sweet and kind. Therefore that was the expectation for those years. When they were two, our angels remained angels. Sure they made mistakes, but instead of focusing on those rarities, we spoke into who God made them to be.
Have you ever thought it strange that Moses was around 80 years old when he led the Israelites out of Egypt? Or, that Caleb was around 85 when he took on the giants in Hebron? In our days of medicine and modern science, we seldom see people so active at that age. What about Noah taking 100 years to build a boat? Or, his grandfather living 800 years? Maybe the world was different then? Maybe there was just a different expectation on the length of ones’ life?
The Bible says we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). We are to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Death is a result of sin entering the world (Romans 5:12). Sin has been dealt with on the cross and now creation and our bodies eagerly wait for redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:22-23). The wearing down of our bodies is not God’s plan. God’s plan is for men and women with the faith of Enoch that God will have to take from the world because death has no hold on them (Hebrews 11:5).