Age in ministry

https://odb.org/2024/07/17/from-age-to-age

Although David was chosen as king at a young age when he was still a boy and the twelve disciples of Jesus were unmarried (except Peter) when they were called by Christ and were thus between 15-18, the bible has towers of faith who were much older. For example, Moses and his brother Aaron were 80 and 83, respectively, when God called them to confront the Pharoah and deliver the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt. Father Abraham was 99 years old when God called him out of the Ur of the Caldeans (near Baghdad at lower Mesopotamia) to Canaan (modern-day Israel) to establish His covenant with him.

In Hebrews 11:8-10, it is written:

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith, he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Even Joshua and Caleb were eigthy years old when they led the children of Israel to cross the Jordan river and enter the Promised Land and conquer the lands flowing with milk and honey, despite the presence of the sons of Anak, the fortified cities and the strong armies. In the Gospels, Simeon and Anna lived until very old and were privileged to see baby Jesus when he was 40 days old (see Luke 2:22-38).

In these modern days, we don’t live that long like Abraham (died at 175) or Moses (died at 120). Nevertheless, our life expectancy is still around 80. So, don’t give up serving God when we touch 60 and retire from our secular jobs. In fact, that’s the time when we are freed from our work obligations to serve God even more, for example, go on prolonged mission trips. A church with many elderly folks is definitely blessed as the congregation has time in their hands to do much social work and ministry. We just need to be diligent and continue to work for God in the areas He has called us to. We can not afford to rest on our laurels and be lazy just because we are older as the work of God is unending and stretches to eternity. Ultimately, age is just a number in ministry!