A long life is a blessing, even when it includes the burden of suffering. A longer lifespan does not only mean a longer period of rest, but also an extension of our task on earth. But, isn’t it so that many older people primarily want to enjoy themselves?

She was content. Her husband was home almost ten years already and they had a good life together. I unexpectedly met this sympathetic, church-going couple and we entered into a conversation. They had a good life, but were busy, even very busy. Yes? “Yes, because on Tuesday we play tennis with a club and Wednesday is our biking day. On Thursday, we look after the grandchildren and then the week is gone, just like that.” After that, I kept my further thoughts to myself, at least, with regard to this lady.

Babyboomers⤒🔗

If you were born after the war, then you belong to the generation that had to work hard. Before we began to speak about the “fries” generation and the “Nix” generation (or Gen X, millenials, and so on), or whatever other designation has been brought up, there were the “babyboomers.” As citizens of the Netherlands after the war, these people still know of the relative poverty that there was in the country. In general, they worked hard, and consciously experienced the rising prosperity. Now, when it is necessary to “tighten the belt” in society, it is noteworthy (and disappointing), that many of them protest, claiming rights because of their contribution in past years.

The mentality of younger people is monitored very well in our country, as in the investigation of Motivaction “the generation without limitations and the advance of the BV IK,” a title that says much. But, do we also follow the thinking and acting of the so-called younger seniors, those who, together, have among them an enormous capital for society (and for the church)?

Hedonism←⤒🔗

It is fortunate that there are many among the babyboomers who occupy themselves as volunteers. That is not only valuable in itself; it is also an example for their children and grandchildren. At the same time, research shows that the hobbies and interests of those born shortly after the war, in comparison with earlier generations, often have to do with hedonism (in philosophy, the teaching that poses that enjoyment is the greatest good), money matters, interest in “strange or foreign things,” and consciousness of society. Self-development scores high. Compiled together, all this adds up to them being committed individualists. We also encounter this mentality of older people in the church. No, it is not about what used to be called “breaking out sins”, a life full of lies and deceit. It is about the life orientation of these older people. Who can understand how although you heard the Gospel throughout your whole life, from the fruits on your tree of life show that you belong to “men of the world whose portion is in this life,” as Psalm 17 says?

Tired of life←⤒🔗

Even if, for this life, you do regard Christ, but do not look beyond the edge of your own existence, you are “of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19), a hefty characterization by Paul. Calvin stresses that our whole life should be a meditation on the future life — something that certainly counts for those whose time of life is growing short. Whoever, as a sixty-plus-year-old, fills his days with what we call self-development — probably as a compensation for a busy and full life — is leading a worldly life. The question that accompanies this is in what way we really differentiate ourselves when our strength fails and we become tired of life. The older Christian can show the difference in a society that increasingly couples tiredness of life with a death wish, and where, in the courts, people debate about a “humane dying” for those who are done with life. Let us — this has everything to do with the problem of so many leaving the church — not underestimate the witness, to their descendants, of all the people on pension who, in spite of the breaking down of life, sing along with David:

Put your hope in God believing/ he will still your refuge be.
I again shall see his face/ and extol him for his grace.
He will show his help and favour/ for he is my God and Saviour.Psalm 42, rhymed version, Book of Praise, 2014

Titus 2←⤒🔗

The letters of the apostles contain many instructions or admonitions for elderly members of the congregation. Apparently that is necessary. From Titus 2, it appears that the life of elderly men and women is also important from a missionary aspect, in order that, Paul adds to his appeal, “the word of God may not be reviled.”

How wonderful it is for you as a person sixty-five years or older, that you are “sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.” What a blessing when sixty-five--plus women are indeed teachers of what is good, who “train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure.” Their lives present the instruction of God as a jewel.

Meek←⤒🔗

Does all of this instruction not come together in the word, meek? It is the expression that the Bible royally attributes to Moses, “more than all other men on earth.” When his brother and sister want to depose him from his place, he does not defend his own status. The previously quick-tempered Moses shows, as an older man, the moulding that a life with God has brought about in him. It is the meek who inherit the earth and “will delight themselves in abundant peace” (Psalm 37).

For the conduct in the congregations, the older ones with a life’s wisdom are of incalculable worth. A few decades ago, someone as young as in their thirties or even forties was not often in church council; in the last years there has been a marked decrease in the age of council members. The fact that younger officebearers are heavily laden because society asks much of them should encourage church councils to look with open minds at older brothers to fill the vacancies.

Totally Different←⤒🔗

Among other things, a characteristic of a vital society is the relationship with the seniors, respect for elderly people. Well, the Netherlands needs to, more and more, make progress in this regard. It is the children who are considered first, which we see with the “Me” generation, the younger ones out of BV IK, who in their childhood were treated as royalty.

May the church be totally different, also in this? The elderly do not have to earn that respect, but they may make themselves worthy of true respect. There is no better way to do that than when the words to Timothy and Titus are internalized in their lives. Then their week will no longer consist of tennis, biking, and baby-sitting — although none of these activities are wrong in themselves.

Rocking Chair←⤒🔗

The Lord has a reason to grant some people many years, and that is not only as a lengthening of their time of grace. Whoever, as Christian, becomes old, may stimulate and encourage the youth in the life of faith, which is characterized by struggle. Whenever someone sits down to talk to another person, they are helping those who bear responsibility today in society. Billy Graham writes somewhere that it is better, in accordance with Psalm 71, to “proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come” than to retire to a golf cart or rocking chair.

Thus, becoming old is a gift; having an opa is a blessing.