Joshua 14:10
“And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old.”
One of the things I love about Joshua and Caleb was that they didn’t let their age become an excuse to sit back and do nothing. In the verse above, Caleb is eighty-five years of age and he still had the drive to dream and conquer. He and Joshua truly grew young with age. In other words, their bodies got older, but they kept the zeal, vision and drive of their youth. They realized there was a generation following them who needed an example on how to grow old.
One of the problems I have observed throughout my life is that people with age seemed to let their zeal, vision, attitude and drive age with them. Like Solomon, they stopped standing where they once stood and used their age as an excuse for not doing right. I believe we should try to be more like Joshua and Caleb who grew young with age. Joshua and Caleb had more zeal and fire than many of the young men who surrounded them. Your goal in life should be to die standing where you always stood with a vision and drive that motivates the next generation to continue on. There are some things you are going to have to guard as you grow older if this is going to happen.
First, you are going to have to guard your attitude. Be careful about becoming critical the older you get. I have watched many older men become critical of the younger generation. Instead of getting a critical spirit, you should strive to encourage them. You will never influence the next generation by criticizing and denigrating everything they do. You might find that you will have a better chance of teaching them if you guard yourself from getting a critical spirit.
Second, you are going to have to guard against comparisons. Joshua and Caleb never compared generations, instead they led their generation. Be careful about thinking the present generation is not doing what previous generations have done. You must realize that you are approaching the end of your life. You are looking at life through the prism of decades and comparing the present generation to the accomplishments of decades. That is unfair! The present generation is still working on their accomplishments, and you must not discourage them because your comparison of what they are doing just doesn’t match up to the decades of your viewpoint.
Third, you are going to have to guard your positional drive and stance. Joshua and Caleb stood where they always stood and kept doing what they always did. Let me encourage you not to do less because you are getting older. You may not be able to do what you have always done, but you can keep doing what you have always done. Stay faithful to church, soul winning and serving God. Keep standing where you always stood. Don’t do less or become loose with standards the older you get. Age is never an excuse to compromise or do less.
Let me ask you, are you the reason previous generations compromise and do less for God. Always remember that you are training previous generations how to grow old. You can’t stop age, but you can prevent age from affecting your vision, drive and positional stances by guarding these three areas.