You Are Never Too Old To Change

[00:00:18] Welcome to this latest edition of Become A Competent Biblical Counselor. I'm Dr. Dave Jones and today's episode is entitled Older People.

[00:00:30] Among other things, a man asks, can a 50-year-old man change? You know, when I was asked that question, I began to count up my fingers and say, well, let's see, one, two, three, four, well, I won't tell you how many, but just a few more years and they're going to continue.

[00:00:48] And refrigerate me too. 50 years old and a man has given up on change? Listen, the question is not whether a 50-year-old man can change or not. Not whether a 75-year-old woman can change. Not whether a 90-year-old person can change. The question is whether anybody can change. That's the only real issue that we're facing when we ask this question.

[00:01:13] Sometimes, because older people find that life is not quite the same as it used to be, they think that the possibility for change has ended for them. The Holy Spirit draws no lines but death.

[00:01:27] As long as we live in this life, as long as we are here as the children of God, those who have been born again by the Spirit of God, of God Himself, those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ, who have by faith in Him found salvation and forgiveness of sins, everyone who is in that situation is involved in change as a life.

[00:01:51] That is, that is, that is our life. It's a pilgrimage. It's a trip. The Bible talks about it as a journey.

[00:01:59] You know, the whole concept of living here and getting it all settled and getting it all together, as they say in these days, is far into the Christian concept of life that it has to be combated.

[00:02:13] Putting roots down is exactly what a Christian does not do. If you read through the 11th chapter of Hebrews, you read again and again of people who were on the move.

[00:02:25] They were all headed, according to Hebrews, toward a country that they had not yet found.

[00:02:31] The earthly country was not what they were after, but as verse 16 says, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one.

[00:02:41] They were moving away from something. They were moving toward something.

[00:02:46] Or as verse 13 says, they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

[00:02:52] This wasn't the place to put roots down.

[00:02:54] The life for the Christian is an adventure.

[00:02:57] It's a journey toward the heavenly country where his roots really are.

[00:03:01] As Paul put it, we are citizens of heaven.

[00:03:05] We who have come to know Christ and who have God as our Father belong to the heavenly city and the heavenly country.

[00:03:14] That's where we hold our citizenship.

[00:03:16] We're just strangers here.

[00:03:19] Now, every person, whether he's old or young, who comes to know Christ has to recognize that fact.

[00:03:27] And the point is that while we are sinners, all change is hard.

[00:03:31] You know, it's not just age that makes change hard.

[00:03:35] As a matter of fact, age, that is years that one may have lived with Jesus Christ, ought to actually facilitate the ability to change.

[00:03:44] One should have had many years of living this life of adventure and change, which God calls us to.

[00:03:51] And age in Christ actually ought to make it easier for one to change because he's had more opportunity to learn how God wants him to handle change in life.

[00:04:03] But it's just as hard for a child to break a habit as it is for an adult.

[00:04:08] The question is not whether a 50-year-old or a 75-year-old can change.

[00:04:12] The question is, how can anyone change?

[00:04:17] When a child has established a habit of slamming a door, it's not easy for him to change that habit.

[00:04:23] When a child has established a habit of throwing his clothes on the floor at night instead of putting them in the hamper,

[00:04:31] every mother knows it's not easy to change that habit.

[00:04:34] It's not a matter of age.

[00:04:36] It's a matter of habit.

[00:04:38] That's the issue.

[00:04:39] That's the question.

[00:04:41] So, whenever we've learned anything, and older people, of course, have learned a little bit more of how to handle life habitually than a child has,

[00:04:50] that's the real difference at this point.

[00:04:53] But whenever we've learned anything as a habit, it has become automatic.

[00:04:58] We do it without thinking.

[00:05:00] It has become comfortable.

[00:05:02] We're not still at the awkward age of doing it.

[00:05:06] We've learned how to do it.

[00:05:08] And it has become something that we respond with whenever we're in a certain set of circumstances.

[00:05:15] That's why it's hard to change a habit, or as the Bible calls it, a manner or way of life.

[00:05:21] However, the Word of God has much to say about how life can be changed.

[00:05:26] And indeed calls us, as all of us, no matter what age we are, to make the changes that God requires of us.

[00:05:35] We've talked about breaking habits before.

[00:05:38] It's not a matter of breaking them, but it's a matter of breaking the old ways and replacing the old ways with what the Bible calls the new man,

[00:05:47] or the new patterns of biblical living that are consonant with the Word of God.

[00:05:54] Old patterns must not only be quit, but they must be replaced by new ones that are appropriate to or grow out of the Scriptures.

[00:06:03] Now, there are a lot of problems with older folks that need to be dealt with, of course.

[00:06:09] One of the big problems, I think, is mentality.

[00:06:12] The use of old trait phrases.

[00:06:16] I don't know how many older people that I've dealt with in counseling sessions who've said to me the same old phrase.

[00:06:22] I hear it just about every time when some older person comes in.

[00:06:26] They say, well, I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

[00:06:31] I've heard that time and time again.

[00:06:34] You've heard it too.

[00:06:35] Maybe you even just said it.

[00:06:37] Maybe you said it today.

[00:06:39] Maybe you were thinking of it when we started this discussion.

[00:06:42] But, you know, when people say that to me in counseling, I just kind of look at them.

[00:06:47] And then I say, you know, I don't know whether that's true or not.

[00:06:51] I'm not an animal trainer.

[00:06:53] I haven't the faintest idea whether you could teach an old dog new tricks or not.

[00:06:57] But one thing I do know, you're not an old dog.

[00:07:01] You are a human being that God created in His image.

[00:07:04] And because you are in the image of the living God, and because that God speaks to you and says to you that you must change your wrong ways, you can change.

[00:07:16] Let's have no more talk about animals.

[00:07:18] Let's talk about you before you were God.

[00:07:21] You know, it kind of makes an older person sit back in his seat and think a little bit.

[00:07:26] And it's time that maybe some of you did too.

[00:07:29] Your life is not over.

[00:07:31] Your life is not through.

[00:07:32] If God has left you here, there's a purpose for you.

[00:07:37] Oh, you may not be able to do the same things you did before.

[00:07:40] The strength, the opportunities may change.

[00:07:43] But there's a purpose and a meaning for you.

[00:07:47] When Abraham was, as Hebrews 11 and 12 says, as good as dead, he went out and did marvelous things for God.

[00:07:56] So can you.

[00:07:57] In this pilgrimage, which we call life, to the heavenly city where we're all headed, we know Jesus Christ is our Savior.

[00:08:06] And if that's the case, there is no problem.

[00:08:09] There is plenty for you to do.

[00:08:11] In fact, God calls upon you to make some of the greatest and hardest changes of all.

[00:08:17] It may be the death of a loved one that you have to face.

[00:08:22] Rarely can young people experience that adequately.

[00:08:25] It may be retirement from all the work that you have involved yourself in over a long period of time.

[00:08:31] That's a hard change.

[00:08:33] But he calls upon people in old age to handle that problem.

[00:08:38] And indeed, your own death, most likely handled by people in old age.

[00:08:43] That's the greatest change of all.

[00:08:45] No, old age is a time for great change.

[00:08:50] The thing you want to do is to assure yourself by the word of God that those changes are great because they are changes made for Jesus Christ.

[00:09:01] Don't say you can't change.

[00:09:03] Indeed, God says you can.

[00:09:06] Lord, help the changes that some who are listening today, who have to face them, become great changes because they are made out of the principles of Scripture in order to honor your Son.

[00:09:17] In his name we pray.

[00:09:18] Amen.

[00:09:20] So thanks for listening.

[00:09:22] Make it a blessed and wonderful day as you search for those opportunities to change.