Do you need help resisting self-indulgence?
I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7
Holy God,
With all due respect to the delightful poet Jenny Joseph,
who wrote the humorous poem, “Warning”
about how she would become a rebel when she was old
and “wear purple with a red hat that doesn’t go,”
help us to resist the temptation
that often faces us as we age.
We are told by our culture
that we should relax and take it easy.
While there’s nothing wrong with
relaxing or enjoying life or even slowing down a bit,
what we must resist is, to quote 87-year-old J.I. Packer,
“practicing self-indulgence up to the limit….
with novelties and hobbies,
anything and everything that will hold interest.”*
Indeed, our spiritual gifts and calling to minister the gospel
do not “wither with age.”
You have called us to live each day to the full,
going where you call us to go
(even if it’s to a hospital bed to pray),
doing what you give us to do.
Until the end, we are called to present our aging bodies
as “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to you….”
Until the end, we must “not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of our minds…” (Romans 12:1-2).
Help us, Lord, to fight the good fight and to finish the race well.
In Jesus’ ancient name. Amen.
Read Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 2 Timothy 4:6-8.
*Quote is from J. I. Packer’s book Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging
