Aging gracefully - wrinkle cream #2

 

Our study is about aging "gracefully" in Jesus Christ, and yesterday's "wrinkle cream" was the choice to forgive.  Today's is our choice to be faithful women.

Long ago, I chose to be a faithful wife to my husband. To stay true to my vows. And I choose to be faithful to God, as well. There are many familiar verses that exhort us to be faithful:

But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. (I Samuel 12:24, NIV)

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (I Corinthians 15:58)

Unbelievers may ask us "WHY?"  We can see our answers in those verses. First, because He is faithful. Secondly, because we know our faithfulness and our work is "not in vain." We have purpose.

I thought of several women in our Bible whom I wanted to refer to, but I narrowed my focus to two: Ruth, from the Old Testament, and Anna, from the New.

Ready to journey with me, back to the grain fields of the ancient world? Come on!

We see a forlorn group in the dusty roadway. An older woman and two younger ones; the stains of tears are fresh on all three faces. Who are they? Naomi, and her two daughter-in-laws, Ruth and Orpah. Tragically, all three women have lost their husbands, and with those three deaths, their world has been turned upside down. (We studied Ruth and Naomi a good while back, and if you would like to refresh your memory, you can put "Naomi" into the search of this blog and be whisked back to 2016 to read....both of their studies will be in the results.)

Back to our story. 

As we noted years ago, Orpah turned back to Moab. Whether she wanted a prospective husband that she had her eye on, or the idols of Moab appealed to her, or whatever, she didn't want to go back home with Naomi and Ruth. Ruth, however, felt honor-bound to accompany the older woman on her journey home. Perhaps she also was impressed with Naomi's faith and the God Yahweh. In any event, she said these famous words:

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. (Ruth 1:16)

She showed humility and she definitely showed faithfulness, as she went back with Naomi and worked hard to provide for them. She followed Naomi's instructions to make Boaz aware of his relationship as a kinsman redeemer, and as a faithful couple, they were part of the lineage of our Savior. 

Anna, the prophetess, was my other choice for our focus on faithfulness. There are only three verses in Luke that tell us about Anna, but they pack a wallop!

There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:36-38)

We studied Anna, the prophetess in the book of Luke, way back in 2015, so if you would like to refresh your memory of her, feel free to search using "prophetess" in this blog, and you will find the posts that talk about her.  She was probably married at a young age, and so then when she was widowed after seven years of marriage, she was still a young and vibrant woman. She chose to spend the next eighty-four years serving God in fasting, praying, and telling others when God revealed His will to her. Anna is an example to us of the power of God in healing a broken heart and meeting all of our needs.

Like Simeon, she recognized in Mary and Joseph's Son, the Messiah that all the people longed for. Before His miracles. Before He stepped out onto the water and walked. Even before the Spirit descended upon Him, standing in the waters beside John the Baptist. How did she recognize Him? God told her! He was able to tell her because she was so faithful, so tuned in, so completely "sold out" in her dedication to God, that she recognized Him - Luke says "that very moment." She was faithful to the relationship, and enjoyed God's presence each and every day. Her life is a testimony to us - you see, she was well-acquainted with the "wrinkle cream" of faithfulness, and the result was that God could use her, no matter her age.

Any of us can serve God. Age actually doesn't matter! He is the Alpha and the Omega. What matters is that we are faithful and obey Him.  We don't know if Anna lived very long after that happy day. But I expect that she went right on giving thanks to God and speaking about Him to all "who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem." 

A final note from our verses at the beginning of this post . . . . the verse in I Corinthians tells us to "give ourselves fully" to the work of God. I just feel "nudged" by the Spirit to emphasize this, for Anna and Ruth both exemplify this for us. They gave of themselves and didn't hold anything back in their service to God. It's like the football or basketball coach who urges his team to give 110%.  I'm a daughter of the King, and as I grow older in His service, I want to give myself fully to His work every day, don't you?

Do we want to "age gracefully"?  Do we want to be content, even happy, as we grow older?  Do we want the lines on our faces to show the love of God, instead of a bitter or unhappy spirit? 

Let's commit to using these two "creams" that we have studied so far: let's choose to be forgiving, and let's choose to be faithful to God. Surely those are a good foundation for our later years!

(PS. We'll study more on this beauty regimen next week! And yes, I'm a bit tongue-in-cheek here, but I think you all understand what I'm getting at!)