Beautiful Sunset

Beautiful Sunset Years

General Douglas MacArthur, on his seventy-fifth birthday, made this thoughtpacked observation of age:

“Youth is not entirely a time of life; it is a state of mind. It is not wholly a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips, or supple knees. It is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions. . . nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals.

“You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your selfconfidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

“In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber. So long as it receives a message of beauty, hope, cheer, and courage – so long are you young. When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snow of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, are you grown old.”

Another prominent leader, King David, voiced his outlook on life in Psalm 37:25: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”

Sunset years need not be years of loneliness, remorse and despair. The same God who helped you and cheered you in the morning of youth, in the mid-day of middle age, can and will give you “beauty, hope, cheer and courage” which keeps the heart young, even in life’s sunset. Sunrise and sunset are both lavished with God-chosen colors. Each day must have its sunrise and sunset; so must each life. Remember, for the Christian an earthly sunset must come before a heavenly sunrise.

Keep this in mind:

You are as young as your faith. Faith is trust. What are you trusting in? Fame? Fortune? Friends? Good works? All these bubble-like things can burst and leave only the spray of despair! How much better is it to obey the Biblical advice: “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22). Do you have true Bible-centered Christ-honoring, soul-saving faith?

You are as young as your hope. Your dark nights of despair can be brightened by the star of hope. Without eternal hope, life has no meaning. But with hope, life is one exciting adventure after another, and even the hereafter holds no fear for the hope-filled soul. You can’t find it without; you must find it within – within your own heart and soul. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). What wonderful hope filled David’s heart. The reason? He declared, “My hope is in thee” (Psalm 39:7). He had his hope in the right One – in God!

Sunset years. . .yes, they can be beautiful! But the heart of man needs that “message of beauty, hope, cheer and courage” to make those years tinted with joy, hope and satisfaction. The message man needs is the Bible. “Bring me the Book,” said Sir Walter Scott as the light of his life’s day was fading. “What book?” someone asked. “There is only one Book,” said the famous author as he made it clear that he wanted God’s Book, the Bible.

The Bible gives a message of beauty. It glorifies the Lord Jesus who is “the Rose of Sharon,” “the Fairest of Ten Thousand,” “the Lily of the Valley,” “the Bright and Morning Star.” Do you know this “Altogether Lovely One” as your own personal Saviour? The Bible says: “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. . . . Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:8, 1).

Yes, God offers in His precious Word hope for the hopeless, help for the helpless and Christ for the Christless. May the pages of the Bible be loved and read by you every day you live. And may the Saviour make your sunset years the happiest years of your life!

• NATHANAEL OLSON

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