Accrued value…

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“Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."  (Matthew 13:52)

A favorite passage of mine. 

It conjures up thoughts of wisdom, maturity, mentoring, aptness, timing and expertise. Scribes trained for the kingdom of heaven are wordsmiths. We strive to hone our craft. We love loving others and being generous with our treasure (Christ in us, the hope of glory!). Our redeemed and transformed lives are a valuable asset to kingdom work. 

"God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."  (John 4:24). We want to express ourselves effectively. We long to communicate the essence of things. Even talking heavenward is more than merely good content… just as it is more than gushy sentimentality. We strive for balance: right spirit, right truth, right words, right heart.

Ours is not a blind faith. Our love blossoms out of experienced truth. Our joy overflows regardless of anything because it is subject to nothing… save the steady embrace of our Savior.

As we get older, the older parts of our lives do too. We look over our shoulder from time to time. Events that shaped us have blurred. The details have begun to fade. People intimately tied to us have moved on. Our bodies cooperate less and less with our minds. 

Gray hair and wrinkles often evoke a benevolent condescension. And yet, what our presence ought to evoke is a respectful -almost reverential- curiosity. There is a unique, accrued value in each senior citizen who has been a good citizen of the heavenly kingdom.

Younger disciple makers are limited. There are things they cannot share as well as we can. They don’t have old stuff in their treasure house to balance out the new… to add salt to the new.

What a wondrous combination: life experiences, culture, family, trials, tragedies, illnesses, poverty, conversion, truth, victories, ministry… the list is long. Remember: seasoned mentors have not just weathered the storms. They have been refined and strengthened by them.  Gray hair and wrinkles often disguise a healthy spirit, a joyful heart, and the knowledge of how to help others get here too. 

Not everyone prepares for old age in a way that accrues spiritual value. True wisdom and light for the next generation are hard to come by.

But what a worthy quest!

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."  (Psalms 73:26)

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