Your Best Days (Part 2)
December 28, 2023
As far as God is concerned, your best days are ahead of you! That is what the pastor told his congregation. He wasn’t just speaking to young couples, or children, or even the middle-aged ones. He was talking to everyone, including the Mr. Georges of the congregation. In my first book, Four Weeks, Mr. George is 85 years old, but he is a world-class encourager. He is a most unlikely mentor for a rebellious young woman. To the world, Mr. George is way past his prime and easily ignored. But God’s perspective is different. In 1 Samuel 16, God guides Samuel in selecting a king.
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (NLT)
2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day. (AMPC)
Proverbs 20:29
The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old. (NLT)
The gray hair of experience is what makes Mr. George such a good mentor. Instead of concentrating on the tattoos, piercings, and jitters of his twenty-something mentee, he sees the beautiful potential. He even gives her a new name. The new name shifts her perspective about how God views her and how she begins to look at herself.
Okay, so Mr. George is a fictional character, but as I grow older, instead of isolating myself and complaining about the younger generation, I can believe in them, encourage them, and pray for them. My gray hair of experience is valuable and needed, as long as I am willing to meet the younger generation where they are without judgment. Touching the lives of young people has a lasting impact that will go beyond my life here on Earth.
We often talk about leaving a legacy. Acts 9:36-41 tells of a woman who did just that.
36 There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. 37 About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room. 38 But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, “Please come as soon as possible!”
39 So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them. 40 But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes! When she saw Peter, she sat up! 41 He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive. (NLT)
Tabitha was an everyday person who liked to sew. She did kind things and looked for ways to help others. She was so valued by her community that they sent for the Apostle Peter, who was known to have the Holy Spirit anointing. She was raised from the dead! Verses 42-43 say: The news spread through the whole town, and many believed in the Lord. 43 And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, a tanner of hides. Her legacy was great in Joppa. Her experience brought many to the Lord and kept Peter in Joppa for a long time! For Tabitha, there is no question her best years were ahead of her! Our best years can also be ahead of us because I am never too old to be kind and be generous with whatever my talents might be.
Four Weeks is available in paperback or eBook at jlpowersministries.com/shop.