Sometimes, when you are older, younger people may ask what things you have learnt in life. I think what I am learning, in case you are interested, is epitomised in the words of John the Baptist when referring to Yeshua, Messiah: “He must increase, I must decrease.” Even when you are old you can make the same mistakes you made as a 20-year-old. Just last week I spoke unkindly to a friend. What you learn firstly, after apologising, is how you might say it better next time, but more importantly the revelation that one is not always such a pleasant person, for lurking in the shadows one doesn’t know who might, from within one’s character, show up under provocation. I had a vigorous disagreement with my brother a few weeks ago – I was unpleasant! Again, followed by an apology. These failings have helped me to see that I am of less significance as a person. We can take our failings; failure in business, failure in education, failure in fatherhood/motherhood, as a son/daughter, relationships, our walk with God, you name it, and let them pull us into a descending ‘low-life’ spiral, a diminishing significance of self. It doesn’t have to depress us though. What I’ve noticed in this “examined life” is how powerfully the Bible speaks while I continue to deal with my sin and walk in step (mostly) with the Holy Spirit. The lower I go, as I get older, the more I find myself in Christ.

Now, I’m not big on success or wealth or status. If one is an achiever, a winner, prominent in one’s field even through hard work, and with a favourable disposition as a Christian, you tell me, how do you find the precious place, the “pearl” of insignificance? Does it send you to your knees more often? Do you have a strategy for abiding in Christ when status, respect, and privilege come knocking regularly at your door? I am glad that many Christians are successful. But, if the most satisfying experience in this life is to have the Holy Spirit settle on you, to breathe His life and power into you, do you think He will be willing to share His glory with your status? – it’s laughable.

So, if any young person asks me what I have learnt thus far in my life I’ll just say, it’s better to regard one’s reputation, either for success or failure, as a stepping stone to humility and brokenness before our God. To find oneself on the “narrow way” to emptiness and insignificance in this life as a Christian is to recognise the royal and priestly markers of His authority, His presence, His peace, and His faith. For me, these are the most satisfying aspects of growing into age in Christ.

While you are there, perhaps we could talk a bit longer about some curiosities of aging. Hear this part song lyric from the late Keith Green, “My eyes are dry, my faith is old, my heart is hard, my prayers are cold” and this quotation from 20thC missionary, CT Studd, “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell”. Polar opposites as you can see. Jesus, in Revelation, admonishes the church in Ephesus because they had lost their first love. This is common in the Christian life and not just in the elderly. So while I have laboured on insignificance above, I want to bring some consolation about significance. When our prayers are cold and we have run out of enthusiasm for the lost it is commendable to attempt to resurrect them by our own abilities. This is how we are educated and what is expected of us, but we mustn’t. Let me mention what happened to me recently. I had been praying, beseeching, pleading with the Lord to release me in the Spirit. I had been doing this for about a year on most days. My confidence, on receiving from Him by faith and thanksgiving, was established by His word whereby He exhorts us to do so and therefore He must honour His word. So, I was sitting in a crowded hall waiting for a meeting to begin when a most beautiful peace, His peace, settled upon me and with His words to my mind, “all things are possible”. And, I could see immediately that this was the reality of the spiritual life. You know, Jonathan Edwards said, “reality is greater than truth”. A profound insight, and one explanation for it may be that spiritual reality bypasses our intellect.

Therefore, if we want significance for Him, whereby He can get glory out of us by what we say to others, our prayer vigour, our service, our devotion to Him, then we are encouraged to seek Him out even when we least feel like it. We can ask Him to take us from where we are, even a “slough of despond”, into an important and significant place where we know our words are guided and inspired by Him, where we are aware of His leading in prayer and His strength in service and sacrifice. We will be bold, courageous, in authority, spontaneous, overcomers – people of His faith. So, if this applies to you, maybe just one person in the congregation, don’t give God any rest. Press into Him every day, read the Bible until you love it, worship Him in posture and your words. Step into your youth, your first love and He will get glory out of you.