Preface: It could be a water heater....or tires would be a good example....something that when you buy them you have a pretty good idea on how long they will last before they will need replaced. Our life is somewhat like that also. I noticed some serious wear on my treads beginning around the age of 70. I have to slow down a little on those curves....and I'm not quite as dependable in the snow. On the positive side....driving a little slower as I am forced to do....I get to see a lot more of the landscape around me....and pick up on pot holes a little quicker. I remember....believe it or not....a comic from over fifty years ago....a woman came home from the automotive garage....and told her husband that the mechanic told her to tell him that there is a screw loose in the driver. In the beautiful old 1957 film April Love....a young Pat Boone....visiting relatives in the country....is embarrassed in front of a young Shirley Jones because he doesn't even know how to get on a horse.....but a short time later she is embarrassed because she doesn't know a spark plug from an intake manifold. There surely are a lot of things that you could teach me....but there is something that I learned that I could teach you! The following post is from 2017
The Gospel Of The Wrought-Iron Life Preserver
I've noticed since retirement that the weeks and months just roll by. When I was working there was a tendency to rest and start all over at the end of every week.....but not so now.....barring some event I can go months without looking back.
Life is a journey where you don't really want it to end....sort of...."Yes I'm going somewhere.....no I don't want to get there....I'll think about this God thing thing a little later on in the journey....too busy right now." The problem with this is that....in my observation anyway.....over many many decades....the older one gets.....the harder the heart becomes. When is the last time that you heard about someone in their 70s....or even their 60s....becoming born again? It happens but not often.
Pick a celebrity from the 60s or 70s.....one that's alive.....Robert Redford maybe....or Jane Fonda....they will stand before Jesus Christ....and have to look back on a long life full of excitement and fame and money....all along the way deciding for themselves if there is a god and what he (she) would be like if there is one. I thank God that my great acting and singing talents....and movie star looks....went unnoticed by Hollywood! Folks you know I'm just kidding right....but I am thankful that I didn't have all those things.....and become a celebrity....because I also would have by now fashioned a god that served my purposes....and a gospel that required nothing more than not being an atheist....and my heart would be stone cold.
Old age to a Christian is vastly different. It's a journey where you may not exactly want it to end right away but you know that the end is the beginning of something far more wonderful than any amount of fame and fortune could ever give.
We are living in an age of the Gospel of the Wrought Iron Life Preserver. Thinking that God will simply look us over and stamp our passport into heaven because we were pretty good along the journey is like being on board a sinking ship and then grabbing a wrought iron deck chair to float on until we are rescued. The gospel of good works sinks....straight away and straight down....it's no life preserver....it's an anchor.
Today is the day friends.....if you are not known by Christ. An R. C. Sproul Daily Audio from a few days ago put this conundrum in my mind. You may think that you know Him.....so everything will work itself out....but does He know you? (Jesus Christ...the King of all Kings....and the Lord of all Lords....the Bread of Life....the Great I Am....the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.....the Risen Lord....and the Resurrection and the Life....apart from whom no one goes to the Father) Are you Born Again? If you have to ask what that is then you probably are not. Today is the day friend....for no one knows what a day will bring....and hearts get a little harder every day!
Addendum: Are you tired of hearing about all this born again stuff. You've gone to church all your life....put a sizable amount of money in the collection plate over the years....vote Republican....what more could God possibly want? If this is you then you need to find some resolution to this problem....and quickly....for you have been driving a long time with the check engine light on and unnoticed. John Piper has a sermon for you on this. Just Google....John Piper YouTube, Why Do We Need To Be Born Again. Come on....I know you are sick of hearing about this....so settle it once and for all!' Surely you have forty-one minutes and fifteen seconds somewhere in your life don't you? I'll give you one very good reason....apart from your own soul....that you should consider this. You love your children more than yourself. Maybe they are adults now....maybe it is your parents....and they are wonderful people....but have they ever been truly converted to trusting in Christ alone....do they even know what that means? Are you willing to take this chance?
