Time Restricted, Timed Out, or Timeless

There are a few really sad moments in life.  Moments which, at the time, seem like the end of everything.  Moments of deep disappointment and humiliation that seems to crush our world at that instant. 

Can you remember when this happened to you: “you have to be ‘this’ tall to ride this ride?”  You can see it now, cant’ you?  The excitement on a child’s face melting into tears just because their age doesn’t match the requirements to be amused by life’s ride.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being told my age eliminates me from part of life!  Still, I suppose even I practice age-discriminating judgments.  I value life experience and the wisdom and maturity of thought that living life can produce.

   

What is the age of respect?  I think all of us come at this question in different ways.  In our modern culture, sometimes we give children too much power and respect well beyond their wisdom.  We poll elementary students on who should be president, or if drugs should be legalized, and report it on the national news.

 

Still, other times, we give children too little respect.  Children should be seen and not heard.  There are churches who take all the children out to their own a private worship because the adults are bothered by squirming and voices of their children.

We are living in a time of age confusion.   It puzzles us to the point where being a particular age seldom satisfies.  Isn’t it interesting, that when we are young, we long to be older; and vice versa? 

  

There is the giant step from twelve to thirteen where we receive the magic title “teenager”.  

 

Or age sixteen, the magic age of a driver’s license. 

Or age eighteen, the magic age of majority. 

Or sixty-five, the magic age of retirement.  

We spend most of our lives anticipating age milestones, but as we enter the twilight years, we long to be young again: to feel the excitement and have the energy to pursue adventure!

 

Another great irony is that those living at the extremes of the age-spectrum are often treated the same by the world.  They are undervalued, disrespected, and disappointed by all the signs that say, “Your age will restrict you from the ride of life!”  We either time in, time out, or run out of time. 

 

Is God a respecter of age?  Does God love us, view us, and sort us by age?  What part does our age play in the Christian content of our lives? 

 

This Sunday we will continue our sermon series, “Connecting the Content of our Lives” as we explore age!