March is my birthday month. At this time each year I take an inventory of my spiritual life, to make sure I’m still moving forward in my walk with the Lord. I ask myself questions like, “Have I stopped growing? Am I still seeking to know Jesus better—to represent Him well in EVERY area of my life? Or have I grown complacent and lazy? Am I still pursuing Him with a renewed sense of His beauty, majesty, and glory? Or am I mostly focused on my circumstances? Has my love for Him deepened and matured this past year, or am I living off stale experiences and revelations from the past?”

I’m celebrating a significant milestone this year … I’m turning 80. With each passing year I’m increasingly encouraged by Psalm 92. “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green” (vv. 12-15). What a precious promise! The apostle Paul echoes this in 2 Corinthians 4:16: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”  

Everyone, once they pass into their forties, knows their physical body has started to wear out. Few of us are as robust and strong as we once were. We face new limitations and setbacks. And as I discovered through our car accident a few months ago, we don’t bounce back from injuries as quickly as we once did. But in the area where it really matters … in our inward, spiritual life where we fellowship with God … we can move with the same agility and vigor. We can still bear fruit that will advance His kingdom and make a difference in someone else’s life. How we bear fruit will likely change of course. We may spend more time in prayer than in social interactions. We may mentor and teach others in areas we once were active in ourselves. Depending upon our gifts and individual calling, we may do less but do it more intentionally. I find it easier to host one or two couples for dinner now as opposed to throwing a large party for a crowd. What’s important is finding ways—no matter what our energy levels are—to bless others in life-changing ways.

As we get to know the Lord better and learn to trust Him more, we find our advancing age is actually a help, not a hindrance.  If we don’t allow ourselves to lose heart or grow complacent in our faith, we find ourselves softening and maturing with age, growing more and more like Jesus. With each new year followers of the Lamb are hopefully wiser, more patient, and better able to handle the disappointments and challenges of life in the Spirit. We develop perseverance, something that all the apostles in the New Testament wrote about. As James put it, “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4).

Wherever we are in our walk of faith our goal should be to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). But here’s the danger we face as we get older. Because our flesh is weak, we tend to use our aches, pains, and physical challenges as an excuse to quit pursuing the life of holiness to which we’ve been called. We figure we’ve “done our bit” for the Kingdom and now it’s time for someone younger and stronger to take up the fight. That’s why we need to encourage one another daily, as It says in Hebrews 10:19-25. Paul wrote to fellow believers in Colossae, “We have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Colossians 1:9-12).

How privileged we are to be able to share in the inheritance of all God’s people. We’ll never run out of new territory to conquer spiritually; we’ll never reach the end of God’s grace in times of need and personal challenge. We’ll never exhaust the supply of His love or discover all the truth found in His Word. Likely, we’ll never fully understand all that’s wrapped up in our great salvation until we’re united with Him in glory.

No matter how many days we have ahead of us, we can choose to emulate Caleb. He declared in Joshua 14 that he was as strong at age 85 as he was at age 40, when he went in to explore the land of Canaan with the other nine Israelite spies. He offered to take on the challenge of driving out the Anakites residing in the hill country, even though “their cities [are] large and fortified. But, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as He said” (v. 12). Caleb’s trust wasn’t in himself but in the One who had promised victory.

Do we have this kind of faith? Can we look beyond our present sense of weakness and inadequacy to embrace new challenges in His name and in His strength? I want to keep growing in this area of faith and discover new ways to glorify Him in the year ahead. Will you join me? I love how Paul described his desire to keep moving forward. “Not that I have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).

Heavenly Father, forgive me for my spiritual laziness and lack of faith. Strengthen me to keep moving forward, knowing I have all I need in the Lord Jesus. In His name I pray, Amen.