Overcoming The Aging Process

By Joe Chesser      It seems like it was just last week when school let out for the summer.  And now, here it is, the first week of another school year.  Where has the time gone?  It brings to mind the lyrics of an old song, “... ain’t it funny how time slips away.”
     While it may be funny for some to sing about, others see the swift passing of time as somewhat depressing.  I’m sure that’s why people have tried for many centuries to fight the aging process.  Everything has been tried from searching for the fountain of youth to the invention of miracle wrinkle creams, from hair coloring to hair implants, from exercise & vitamins to plastic surgery.  But deep down we all know that there is nothing we can do about the aging process.  We can try to lengthen our life-span.  We can help our bodies look and feel better longer.  But is there anything we can do to overcome the aging process?  Yes, and no.      Physically speaking, for every generation since Adam and Eve “there is a time to be born and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2).  It’s simply the way God has designed life on earth.  It’s all a part of the laws God established after Eden.  And while we may manipulate those laws to some extent, the aging process continues to plug along.       This would be very depressing if we were only physical beings.  But we’re not.  We not only have a body, we also have a soul.  And it is this aspect of our existence that gives us hope of overcoming the aging process.  Notice how Paul puts it:
Therefore we do not lose heart.  
Though outwardly we       
are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed      
day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are      
achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them      
all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what      
is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is      
unseen is eternal.                             2 Corinthians 4:16-18
     I don’t know about you, but I kind of like the idea of being renewed day by day.  I like the idea that what I see in a mirror graying and wrinkling is only temporary at best.  I really like the idea that as a Christian, not only am I being renewed spiritually each day, I also have in the future an eternal glory that far exceeds anything this earth can offer, one that overcomes all the troubles and heartaches with which this world so cruelly tries to destroy me.  I don’t care that my hair is turning gray and turning loose.  I don’t care that I can’t stop the aging process because that would only prolong receiving the eternal glory with God that’s awaiting me!

- Joe Chesser preaches for the Fruitland Church of Christ, Fruitland, MO.  He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.cofcfruitland.com/