Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; …They will still bear fruit in old age… Psalm 92:12,14a

Scottie did not look very happy when I ran into him at the bank. He was discouraged and pretty much down. It was obvious that something was not right. “Scottie, is something wrong?” I asked, “You are not looking very well.” His reply shocked me as he began, “I am not expecting to live much longer.” He paused for a few minutes and then continued, “I just turned 55 and my dad died by the time he was 55, and my grandfather died before that. I am the only one of us still living and I am afraid my time is about up.” And you know, he was 100% serious. He had convinced himself that he had but a few years to live. I lost touch with Scottie, and I’ve always wondered what happened to him. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised, though, that his fears became self-fulfilling prophecies.

With some folks there is a tragic mind‑set that comes with aging, that convinces them that the best is behind them, and that the worst is yet to come. Years ago the writer of Proverbs said, “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7, KJV), and that applies to your attitude towards aging. Ogden Nash once wrote, “People expect old men to die; they look at them with eyes that wonder when.”

The average male dies within three to seven years after retirement‑‑usually leaving behind a wife who will outlive her husband from 4 to 15 years. Your attitude has a lot to do with the quality of your life right now, and, believe me, while your attitude cannot stop the aging process, it can stop old age dead in its tracks. Let me explain. You cannot stop the aging process‑‑that is part of the natural process of life as your body gradually begins to slow down, but your attitude can greatly slow down the aging process as you keep yourself healthy and exercise properly and watch your diet.

But more than that, you must continue to utilize the years of experience which God has given to you. I have often said that age is a matter of the mind; if you do not mind, it does not matter. Think of Moses, the great lawgiver, who was 80 years old when God called him. He led the children of Israel for 40 years. When it came time for him to cross the threshold of death, Scripture says, his eye was not dimmed and his step was not abated.

I am reminded of another gray‑haired great, David Ben‑Gurion, who gave birth to the modern nation of Israel long after the age that most of his contemporaries were sitting in the warm sun with their feet propped up on a pillow. I think of Golda Meir, who served her country until she was 80, and Cam Townsend, the founder of the Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics, who continued to serve as an international ambassador of goodwill until his death at 85.

The Canadian missionary, Jonathan Goforth, who, having served as a pioneer missionary in China for a half‑century, returned at the age of 70 to open up a new field where missionaries had never ventured.

When concert pianist Artur Rubinstein reached his 88th birthday, he told the press that he had reached the happiest part of life for a pianist; that of playing encores. The great virtuoso said he felt as though he had been playing encores ever since he had hit the 80 mark. “That is when we pianists feel always the happiest, giving encores. We can play all sorts of things that we want to. People applaud. That is just my state of life.” What a beautiful way of looking at life‑‑playing encores, doing the things you have always wanted to do without being forced by habit or financial circumstances to do what you have had to do the rest of your life.

Your attitude makes all the difference in the world!

Resource reading: Joshua 14.