Enoch walked with God 300 years (Genesis 5.22).
Whilst I have not yet met any Christians with such a life span, there are those who belong to The Bridge Church who have been Christians for 40, or 50, or, in some cases, 60 years.
There is huge experience and wisdom in these grey-haired saints.
There remains a window for those younger and younger in the faith to learn from them.
For seniors, the word is to avoid becoming insulated or isolated.
(Or, what did I read and listen to during the lockdowns?)
This is a current issue. Since March 2020 (and earlier in some countries) millions of Christians have been unable to physically attend meetings in their Church buildings. I am one.
There was already a vast resource of Christian material available online. Lockdown massively added to that.
I’ve seen some discussion as to how we should navigate this material. Helpfully, many Churches have communicated recommended materials to their members.
In addition to listening to that recommended material, I identified two things to avoid; overload and confusion. So, I listen to and read teaching by Mike Betts, who oversees the Relational Mission family of Churches, to which I belong. { https://www.relationalmission.org/] I then look for what Mike recommends, confident that it will hold similar values. That gives me a set of resources in which I have great confidence.
Does that not make you too narrow? Perhaps, but it helps me not to get confused. Of course, I do listen to some other material, but I major on what I know will do me good.
I should add that, in my professional work I work with Churches and other faith groups from a very wide spectrum, and routinely read material from them.
So, is everyone else wrong? Of course not! I seek to be devoted to the apostle’s doctrine within Relational Mission. I am convinced it is correct. But, RM would never claim to hold the whole truth. RM contributes to the whole just as other Churches and groups do. But I can only be devoted to one.
In my reading I came across one group of Churches whose vision statement declares that ’the Church has left out 90% of the gospel and only kept 10%.’ In contrast to this blatant criticism of other groups, it is important to honour other Churches and respect them as part of God’s family. By God’s grace, I respect Churches to which I do not belong. We can and must learn and grow together.
Respect for other Churches is a mark of Relational Mission leaders. Relational Mission Churches frequently partner with other Churches to serve their local communities. I hope to have a similar, generous, attitude.
These words are quoted from Heb 12.28; “Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.””
A few verses later the writer says; “for here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (Heb 13.14).
There are many things to learn from these words. For one, the visible world is not the entirety of the world. There is the unseen, the spiritual. The Bible makes clear that the unseen is actually more real than the visible world. The present world is but a shadow of the unseen world.
What I find striking is that these wonderful truths motivate us, not to seek to escape from this world, but to be a blessing in it. The direct commands here need no explanation!
Confidence about our future destiny is a powerful motivation to life with integrity in this world.
We are already receiving the kingdom, which is the future, but now. We taste Heaven here on earth. Eternity has started. Therefore we press on to know Christ and make Him known.