Aging with Joy

I doubt any of us think of ourselves as old, yet over time we become keenly aware that we are not as young as we once were. This realization may come when our bodies can no longer do what was once easy; it may come when we qualify for Medicare; or it may come from a shift in the world’s unstated value of us. This last thought is addressed in Jen Wilkin’s book, “Dust to Dust,” which explores the lies our culture wants us to believe about aging and the truth the Bible gives us in response.

We live in a world that tells a loud, fearful story about aging. It whispers that growing older is a slow erasure, a diminishing, a slide into irrelevance. It urges us to cling desperately to youth, hide our gray hair, and outrun time itself. But Scripture tells a better story—one filled with dignity, purpose, beauty, and hope. Aging is not a curse to resist but a gift to steward, a season in which God continues to shape us into the likeness of Christ.

Our story begins and ends with God, as David proclaims, “O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.” (Psalm 139:1–3)

At every stage of life, we are held in His loving hands. The Christian confession that all bear God’s image, from infancy to adulthood to old age, affirms that every season of life has divine worth. Aging is not an accident of biology; it is part of God’s design to form wisdom, deepen character, and display His faithfulness.

I see this in the aging of my own parents, who are both 93. While their bodies grow more frail and their minds begin to fade, their value and worth remain unchanged as God’s image bearers. Once we were deceived into believing that our identity was defined by our accomplishments, and as we age, we can either continue to look back in hopes of finding our worth in the past or choose to look forward and remember God's promises.

He promises that he will “never leave us nor forsake us” (Deuteronomy 31:8, Hebrews 13:5). It is not only the young who have gifts to offer the church but the aged as well. The promise to the righteous is, “Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green” (Psalm 92:14). There will be different fruit in different seasons of life. The fruit, the wisdom of later life, cannot be manufactured in youth. It is wisdom cultivated over decades of God’s sustaining grace that needs to be shared.

Our culture can treat the elderly like outdated technology—still present but no longer useful- but Scripture directly confronts this lie. Titus tells the church that older men and women have vital roles, especially as mentors to the young (Titus 2:2-8). Because of their life experience, they can pass down wisdom, integrity, and life skills across generations. 

The elderly are not relics of a bygone era but repositories of wisdom and experience essential to the well-being of families and churches.

While it is true that, for the church to “make disciples of all nations,” it must look to future generations, it cannot do so at the expense of the past. The past is represented in our churches by those of earlier generations. The church will only thrive when generations walk together, when the energy of youth is guided by the wisdom of age and the wisdom of age is encouraged by the hope of youth.

Perhaps the most countercultural truth Scripture offers is that aging is not something to deny. It is something to acknowledge with gratitude, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Awareness of time’s passage is not morbid—it is transformative. It awakens us to the preciousness of each day and the urgency of living faithfully.

The world’s story of aging is driven by fear: fear of irrelevance, invisibility, and decline. God’s story is driven by joy: joy in growth, wisdom, depth, and the promise that he will carry us all our days. May we embrace aging not with fear but with joy and faith—trusting that the God who formed us from dust will sustain us until the day he calls us home.