Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Friday August 24, 2007

I read a statement in Dr. Van's letter, Cogitations, the other day that caught my attention. I scan hundreds of articles each week and slow down when something catches my eye. Here is the eye catcher:

"Old age comes at a very bad time."

I, for one testify that I could handle old age much better at 25 than at 66. Most mention of aging centers around the loss of physical agility, strength and diminished mental acuity. To be sure these symptoms of aging are, at the worst, very heard to deal with. At the very least they are irritants.

One aspect of aging is far more devastating than any or all of the aforementioned combined. I refer to the loss of hope. Very few aged men and women are able to maintain a high level of hope into the golden years. I add that my life has been blessed by the few I have known who walked through the valley of death at advanced years with the joy of a living hope burning brightly in their heart and attitude.

Jean Paul Richter said:

"It is not the end of joy that makes old age so sad, but the end of hope."

The older you get the harder it becomes to firmly believe in the "Success Gospel" and this is understandable in that this type of doctrine is biblical and historical heresy.

The scripture does affirm the power of hope in relation to "things of earth" in giving hope for sustaining faith, even miraculous deliverance such as the miracle experienced by Moses and the children of Israel at the Red Sea, of Daniel surviving the lions den to say nothing of David's dramatic victory over Goliath. These victories are the exception rather than the rule, so while they serve a purpose, when things get really tough and Christians are walking shackled, with armed guards on each side, tied to a stake and shot in Castro's prison, and as they await the shot, shout, "Viva Christo Rey," meaning, "Long live Christ the king." Armando Vallardares testified in his book, "Against All Hope" describing his 30 years in what has been called the worst prison in the world, "These shouts of victory led to the guards gagging the martyrs prior to shooting them."

The hope of these prisoners at the time of their execution was not in any of the things you read about in the bulk of modern Christian literature, but in Christ and the sure promises of things eternal.

Colossians 1:5 "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;"

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2007 Use with credit.

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