Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:14
The Irish dramatist George Bernard Shaw once expressed the opinion that people could get to be 300 years old if they could avoid accidents. Ironically, he died at age 92 when he fell from a ladder while trimming a tree.
Age is not entirely a matter of calendar years. Much depends on how we guard our health. A dissolute actor who died at age 50 was said to have had the worn-out body of a 90-year-old man. Conversely, some people at age 80 are in better shape than those half their age. When Moses died at the age of 120, “his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone” (Deuteronomy 34:7).
How old are you? It could well be that you are younger than you think. You are young in body if you keep fit through daily exercise. You are young in mind if you keep on learning, maintain an interest in life around you, can adjust to changing conditions, and stay hopeful about the future.
Above all, we need to measure our age in the spiritual dimension of life – in our Christian faith. Here the emphasis is on growth. We don’t want to remain what Saint Paul calls “mere infants in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1) when we have the opportunity to be mature men and women. God has given us the means for spiritual development: His Word and the sacraments. He desires that we, in the words of Saint Peter, may “grow up” in our salvation. To discover every day how wonderful is the love of God, who sent His Son to give us life and peace and pardon, is to stay spiritually young – in the psalmist’s words, to renew our youth “like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:5). At the close of his second epistle Saint Peter urges us: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).
The Post-Epiphany season offers many opportunities and incentives to let Christ’s light of the Gospel shine in and through our lives.
PRAYER: O Holy Spirit, through the Gospel keep my faith fresh by drawing me closer to Jesus Christ. Amen.
(Devotions from "With Jesus Every Day" copyright 1997, CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend. For information on other devotional material, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit CPH at www.cph.org.)
Today's Bible Readings: Job 17-19 Matthew 10:21-42
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