Respect The Older Ones: You May Become One, One Day!

The Older Ones: You May Become One, One Day! April 24, 2016 Kelly Durant

Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

2. Older people can be very funny! Thank God for humor and that we can laugh when we don’t hear everything said, or see things as clearly as we use to. Like the grandson who took the grandpa out to eat and he wanted to impress upon him that was educated and learning proper English. He asked him, “Did you enjoy an eloquent suffice”? The grandpa, paused and said, “What, did you say? That we were eating elephant and rice?!”

A healthy person will have love and respect for the senior citizens in society! As a matter of fact, those that do not respect and honor their parents and grandparents are breaking an original command of one of the 10 big ones that carried the death penalty for violating it: Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”

Why does it say that your ‘days may be long’? Because rebellious, stubborn, know-it-all young people who don’t want to listen to the wisdom of their fathers usually live a hard-knock life, mess up, and end up dying young due to their own mistakes! Notice that it says ‘father and mother’, and sadly in many homes many young people do not grow up with the wisdom of them both, or they see horrible examples, so we must weight that honor is due to whom deserves it (If they are Godly or not).

3. On our calendar today is senior appreciation Sunday. Look how many seniors we have, quite a few, right? As a matter of fact, some churches seem to only be filled with seniors! Seniors who are faithful to God’s work deserve respect! I appreciate them! I hope you do special things for those who are up in years in your family and in your church! The mature ones with experience can teach you many things!

They say as we get older we become more childlike, well that may be a good thing! Most children I know just want to hang out with you and have fun, and you get to have your day brightened by them! Many people up in years have lived through many hard times and they have suffered a lot so we must treat them with care. Think of them as a person with wounds, we must be careful not to bump into them because we do not want to harm them even more.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all”. When you have lived a long time it is easy to become faint hearted. And when we see someone weak, we should want to uphold them, encourage them, and help them to know they are loved and supported. In our patience we pray for those who are hurting! After a number of years you never know when the shoe may be on your foot one day!

4. When is the last time you visited someone up in their years? For me it was last week, and as a matter of fact I know many of you visit the elderly in the rest homes at least twice a month. God bless you for that! It is sad that many that you visit are in wheelchairs and in worse shape than what you are.

Many people up in years have lived through many hard times and they have suffered and we must treat them with care. Think of them as those who have been though a war, and now they need some rest and recuperation. Thinking of the war, I had uncles and Sunday school teachers that fought in WWII. They could tell you stories! When you realize how much they suffered physically and mentally your heart goes out to them! Sadly today they are not honored as they should be as many youth who never have suffered do not understand or respect what their grandparents and great grandparents did to prevent all humanity from become extinct under the dominion of Hitler! They should be listened to in our society, as their authority to discipline is well earned.

5. Most of the older ones amongst us deserve our utmost respect because all their lives they have sacrificed for their children and grandchildren helping them to study and become successful in life. And here is a paradox, something difficult to understand is this, how is it that the former hippie generation which are the elderly now (my generation of baby-boomers), are the more responsible ones, more responsible than their spoiled children in their 30s and 40s? Maybe now some of us are wiser and understand why we should adhere to the teachings of our grandparents and parents.