The Monday Memo from John Stanko

Monday Memo 1170: A Gift From God

When I was young(er), I read Ecclesiastes but it didn't make much sense to me. It seemed that the writer was a bitter old man who was disillusioned with life, love, and the Lord. For example, he wrote,

God has laid a miserable fate upon us. I have seen everything done in this world, and I tell you, it is all useless. It is like chasing the wind. You can't straighten out what is crooked; you can't count things that aren't there. I told myself, “I have become a great man, far wiser than anyone who ruled Jerusalem before me. I know what wisdom and knowledge really are.” I was determined to learn the difference between knowledge and foolishness, wisdom and madness. But I found out that I might as well be chasing the wind. The wiser you are, the more worries you have; the more you know, the more it hurts (Ecclesiastes 1:13-18, GNT).

Now that I'm old(er), I read the same book and it makes more sense. The writer, probably Solomon, had experienced most of what being the king had to offer: fame, fortune, and the finer things of life. However, he came to the conclusion that it was all meaningless, vanity according to one translation. And then he ended his book with this rather depressing summary of old age:

So remember your Creator while you are still young, before those dismal days and years come when you will say, “I don't enjoy life.” That is when the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars will grow dim for you, and the rain clouds will never pass away. Then your arms, that have protected you, will tremble, and your legs, now strong, will grow weak. Your teeth will be too few to chew your food, and your eyes too dim to see clearly. Your ears will be deaf to the noise of the street. You will barely be able to hear the mill as it grinds or music as it plays, but even the song of a bird will wake you from sleep. You will be afraid of high places, and walking will be dangerous. Your hair will turn white; you will hardly be able to drag yourself along, and all desire will be gone (Ecclesiastes 12:1-5, GNT).

But typical to this wisdom writer's style, buried in his lament on the futility of life, he gave us the answer to happiness and fulfillment. In the above passage, he advised, "So remember your Creator while you are still young" and then earlier in the book he wrote,

This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20, emphasis added).

So the key to a happy old age is to enjoy the Lord while you are young and do meaningful, purposeful while you can, remembering that life is short. Older folks always told me that my senior years would be here before I knew it—and they were right. Now I encourage you to make the most of the days you have, for they truly are a gift from God, and all of us are closer to our end today than we were yesterday, which is what Solomon was trying to tell us all along. Have a blessed week.

Monday Memo 1168: Thrive or Just Survive?

I ran across a few of God's promises to His older saints in my study this week. The first is in Isaiah:

"I am your God and will take care of you until you are old and your hair is gray. I made you and will care for you; I will give you help and rescue you" (Isaiah 46:4, GNT).

The second is in the book of psalms:

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him" (Psalm 92:12-15).

Let's look at the magnificent promise in Isaiah. In it, God vows to take care of His people when they're old and gray. He also promised to "rescue" His older servants, which means that the old are not exempt from trials and tribulations, or from faith adventures that will require God's intervention and assistance. No matter what, God will still be their refuge and strength.

Then in Psalm 92, God promises that the righteous ones will still bear fruit in their old age, staying "fresh and green." In their later years, they will proclaim God's goodness. This doesn't sound anything like retirement or of being physically unable to perform good works or purposeful deeds.

We saw earlier in this series that "Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone" (Deuteronomy 34:7). It's not necessarily true that the old are also infirm. So if God promises to rescue the old and if they will still bear fruit, it also doesn't sound like they will retire to God's "home for the elderly." They still have purpose and God expects them to produce fruit consistent with their gifts and talents.

So what is your fruit? What is the purpose of your life? You must answers those questions regardless of your age, for God's promises or expectations don't have an expiration date. What's more, since the joy of the Lord is your strength, if you want strength in your latter years, you must be doing the things you love to do, things that give you joy.

As I write, I'm 74 years old. I know I'm not getting out of here alive, but I don't plan on cooperating with the aging process. I want to thrive and not just survive. If the day comes I cannot write, then I'll dictate or draw or do something to declare that "the Lord is upright." I'll travel as long as I can and I'll broadcast the lessons God is teaching me until death prevents me from doing so.

By then, however, I will have left enough behind that, should God choose to use it, my voice will continue to be heard when my days on earth have come to an end. How about you? How do you want to end? Do you want to just survive or do you choose to thrive? Think about it and while you do, I trust you will have a blessed week.

Monday Memo 1166: Gray Hair

In our series titled 'Never Too Old for Purpose," I include some personal reflections on a passage from the psalms:

I will always put my hope in you; I will praise you more and more. I will tell of your goodness; all day long I will speak of your salvation, though it is more than I can understand. I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will proclaim your goodness, yours alone. You have taught me ever since I was young, and I still tell of your wonderful acts. Now that I am old and my hair is gray, do not abandon me, O God! Be with me while I proclaim your power and might to all generations to come (Psalm 71:14-18, NLT).

As I read this, I'm 74 years old and I'm trying to put myself in the psalmist's place. Here are some thoughts:

1. He declared that he will always hope in God. As people get older, they realize that nothing else "works," at least that's my conclusion. God and His ways are the only reliable things in life.
2. He promised to praise more. I need less sleep and wake up in the night often now. When do, I spend some time praising and thanking God for simple things: health, provision, relationships, grandkids. I take nothing for granted and I go out of my way to praise and thank God.
3. He said he would speak of God's salvation all day long. I'm on social media all day, every day. As I receive something from the Lord, I share it as quickly as I can.
4. He said he could not totally grasp what He was saying. As I get older, I discover that the more I know, the more there is to know. Learning is a lifelong pursuit in the Lord.
5. He went in God's strength. As my physical strength wanes, I increasingly have to rely on God's strength on a daily basis. He has all I need.
6. He promised to only declare God's goodness. When you have lived long, you have more memories and they're not all good. It's easy to get bitter or cynical. I ask God to help me be neither, which means I have to be the opposite—gracious and trusting, childlike even.
7. He asked for God's help as and until he was done proclaiming God's glory to the next generation. My ministry time is increasingly invested in sharing with the young(er) about the lessons God has taught me. And of course, I write and publish so God has something, if He so chooses, to share with those coming after me.

The psalmist stated that he was "old and now gray." When I get a haircut and look on the ground, I wonder where all the gray hair came from until I remind myself that it came from me. I don't know how long I have, so I'm determined to make every day count, just like it seems the psalmist was determined to do.

But as I write, I realize that everything he wrote is as relevant and applicable to people of any age as it is for me. But when you're older, your body reminds you every day that the clock is ticking. The good news is there's plenty of work to do, as the psalmist said, for those who are focused on doing it until they can't do it any longer. Have a blessed week.

Monday Memo 1165: God's Good Pleasure

Here is a one-sentence summary of Moses' condition at the time of his death:

Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; he was as strong as ever, and his eyesight was still good (Deuteronomy 34:7, GNT).

Because he was 120 years old, we may tend to dismiss his age as an aberration, an indication that people lived to be older "back then." But if that's the case, why would the Bible make sure we understood Moses' condition if it was so common then? Let's see if we can find out.

Of course, the most important reason is that God was with Moses and empowered and strengthened him. But what made Moses so special that God would preserve him for so long in the condition described? My bias leads me to conclude that Moses was a man of purpose and God was providing a lesson in the power that resides in living and not just dabbling in God's will for one's life.

Moses understood what his purpose was early in life: "Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not." (Acts 7:25). The people weren't ready to be rescued, however. What's more, God had more work to do in him, so Moses fled to Midian when he lived and worked for forty years (see Acts 7:23). Then we are told, "After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai" (Acts 7:30). So Moses went back to Egypt for 40 years of service until he died at the age of 120.

I'm not insinuating that when you find your purpose, you're guaranteed to live to 120 and will never need glasses. But I am saying that purpose is energizing and gives you a reason to get up in the morning and fill your days with more than mindless television or meaningless recreation. Purposeful people don't buy into the thinking that "I'm old and old people are frail, decrepit, and forgetful." To prove this point, let's look at a purpose hero of the church, John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church movement. Here is Wesley's entry in his diary on his 72nd birthday:

This being my birthday, the first day of my seventy-second year, I was considering, How is this, that I find just the same strength as I did thirty years ago? That my sight is considerably better now and my nerves firmer than they were then? That I have none of the infirmities of old age and have lost several I had in my youth? The grand cause is the good pleasure of God, who doth whatsoever pleaseth him. The chief means are: 1) My constantly rising at four, for about fifty years; 2) My generally preaching at five in the morning, one of the most healthy exercises in the world; 3) My never traveling less, by sea or land, than four thousand five hundred miles in a year.

Now that's the summary of a person of purpose! What is the "good pleasure of God" where your life is concerned? Are you fully involved in it or only dabbling? Is your focus your well-being or that of others? Have you bought into the thinking that old is old and old people are meant to serve out their days while waiting for the end?

God wanted us to know about Moses' condition at his end so we could have faith that life is to be lived to the fullest no matter our age. Take a page from Moses' and Wesley's book and determine to be a person of purpose right up to the end, for the truth is as we've learned in this lesson, you're never too old for purpose. Have a blessed week!

Monday Memo 1164: Run Your Race

No one impacted the early church more than Paul—except for the Lord Jesus. In one of his last letters, Paul wrote Timothy to declare,

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

Here are some thoughts to add to this series titled "Never Too Old for Purpose."

1. Paul was being poured out like a drink offering. The drink offering always accompanied another offering and was either poured on the ground or into a fire. Either way, not a trace of the drink offering was left. Paul saw that his life had been given to the Lord's service. He was not doing the pouring, but God was in control, determining where and how Paul's last days would be invested.
2. Paul knew his end was near. Paul had a sense that his departure was imminent. There was not a succession plan to follow for he did not have an official position to delegate. He had known and stated that he had completed his purpose—there was nothing left to do. And no one really could replace the unique calling he had lived and fulfilled.
3. He had fought, finished, and kept. As in other places, Paul used athletic references to indicate how he would describe his purpose journey. He had devoted his life to his God-assigned purpose. It wasn't a hobby and didn't take second place to a career. It was the main act in his life drama and he had played his role to perfection.
4. Paul knew there was a reward in store for him. Paul had worked not for the church or for the church's leaders, but for God. He fully expected his reward to come from his "employer"—God Himself. He knew he wasn't unique or special in that regard, for anyone who "longed for [Jesus'] appearing" would receive the same reward.

Do you know what your purpose is? Are you fulfilling it? Is it a hobby or the main attraction in your life movie? Are you fighting for, running in, and preserving what God has given you to do? The beauty of Paul's life is the clarity he had of his mission and his absolute commitment to it that allowed him to run the race and finish the course. I urge you to be as focused and resolute as Paul was to that when your end is near, you can be as matter-of-fact about your purpose race, declaring yourself the winner by God's grace. Have a blessed week.

Monday Memo 1161: Serving The Young

Abishag: King David's Sokhenet - TheTorah.com

David lived to be 70 and at the end of his life had a problem staying warm. Let's read what his attendants did to address this problem:

When King David was very old, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him. So his attendants said to him, “Let us look for a young virgin to serve the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm." Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful young woman and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The woman was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no sexual relations with her (1 Kings 1:1-4).

There's nothing wrong with staying comfortable in one's advanced years. The problem in this case, however, was that while the servants were focused on David's well-being, one of his sons decided he wanted to be king. Everything that David had worked for was almost lost due to the insurrection of his renegade son.

About that time David’s son Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, began boasting, “I will make myself king.” So he provided himself with chariots and charioteers and recruited fifty men to run in front of him. Now his father, King David, had never disciplined him at any time, even by asking, “Why are you doing that?” Adonijah had been born next after Absalom, and he was very handsome (1 Kings 1:5-6).

The writer also lets us know that David created this problem with his son by not disciplining him "at any time." David's lack of fathering skills didn't just impact him or his family, but had implications for the entire realm. And now, it seems that it was more about David and his needs than the needs of the nation. What lessons are there in this story for us as we study the topic 'Never Too Old for Purpose'?

It would seem the main lesson is that you never retire from God's Kingdom work or responsibilities. The same principles that got you through your life still apply when you're older. Certainly you should not ignore your physical limitations or needs, but they should not be the main focus for you or those around you. You must maintain a Kingdom mindset throughout your life, remembering that it's not about you or what you have done. It's always about Him and what He's doing and wants to do—even after you're gone. No one, including God, owes you anything for your life of service.

David was popular but on more than one occasion his self-centered tendencies caused his subjects many problems. Determine to be a person of purpose right up to the end, not insisting your own needs be met but doing what you can to meet the needs of others. And don't look for a way for the young to serve you but find ways to serve them to ensure that they have a chance to be successful in their day just as you had in yours. Have a blessed week.

Monday Memo 1160: Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Let's go back and look at a verse we mentioned last week when we looked at Joseph as a good example of someone who wasn't too old to flow in his purpose:

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them (Hebrews 11:13-16, emphasis added).

The specific verse is "all these people were still living in faith when they died." Faith is a lifetime assignment. It's not an event, but a lifestyle. It's not a pill you swallow when needed but a spiritual vitamin we take every day. And faith isn't just for things we think we need that we don't know how we can get them, but it's to be applied to goals and aspirations of things God has laid on our hearts to do.

In the passage above, we see what's involved in faith by the words in bold. First, we live in it. Our whole existence requires faith. When we drive over a bridge, we have faith it won't collapse. When we buy food, we have faith that it's not going to make us sick. When we go to the hospital, we trust that the people there are well trained and competent. So to trust God for provision or to fulfill a promise isn't that unusual of an exercise, since we are creatures who function best by faith—no matter our age.

People of faith also see things. They see the future so clearly, sometimes even the future after they have departed this life, that they welcome those pictures of what is yet to come and work to make them a reality for themselves and for those closest to them. I guess you can say these people are visionaries.

Then faith involves admitting the truth of who we are. Faith never requires us to deny reality. We just don't allow reality to have the final say. We choose to allow God's word to have the deciding vote. Abraham was as good as dead in age, but chose to believe God that he would have a son to serve as his heir. What's more, people of faith say things that are compatible with faith. For example, I never say "I'm too old for this or that." Yes, as I grow older there will be physical limitations but I'm trusting God that my latter years will be as fruitful, perhaps more so, than my earlier ones.

After that, those with faith are thinkers. Faith is rational, perhaps the most rational act of our existence. Faith may involve our feelings, but at the end of the day, it requires that we weigh the evidence and the possibilities and allow faith to have the upper hand. And finally, people of faith are longing for something better, which is the reward of our faith. We have a destination in mind and faith fuels the journey. Now all this occurs regardless of your age. You're never too young or old for faith.

Having said that, how is faith impacting your life? Are you living or simply existing? Are you admitting the truth of your own weakness but trusting in God's strength? Has faith affected your speech so that you are uttering faith words and not those of doubt and doom? And how about your thinking? Are you using your rational capabilities to concoct exciting faith scenarios or fear-filled options for your life? And finally, are you longing for more—to do more, be more, see more, and understand God more?

If you answer yes to those questions, then the final promise of this passage is for you: "God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." I want to be a citizen of God's city and not just someone living on the outskirts of town because I was unable to take up residence in the place God has for me. I would love to have you as my neighbor there, but the price of admission is a life of faith up until the end. I hope you're willing to pay that price. If you are, I look forward to sharing faith stories with you as we talk across our backyard fence on Faith Street. Have a blessed week.

Monday Memo 1159: Die in Faith

We've looked at Joseph's sons the last two weeks, but now let's backtrack and take a look at Joseph in our series "Never Too Old for Purpose."

It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left (Hebrews 11:22, NLT).

Joseph had heard the stories from Jacob, his father, that God was going to give the people the land according to the promise He made to Abraham. Joseph put his faith in that promise and was confident it would take place, even though Joseph himself had been in Egypt for 80 years when he was about to die. His people's population in Egypt by then was growing to the extent that it would seem almost impossible that they would be able to return one day to where they had buried Jacob, but Joseph believed it was going to happen.

What's more, Joseph left one command in his last will and testament and that was for the people to take his bones with them when they went back. That indicated Joseph didn't believe the return was going to happen any time soon, but it was going to happen and he wanted to be a part of it. It would happen almost four centuries after his death.

This makes me think of what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians, quoting Psalm 116:10: "It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken." Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak." What did Joseph do in his old age? How could he fulfill his purpose to rule over his family as God had promised? He directed their faith focus to the promise of God that they would return to their home by speaking words of faith.

Then we read the report in Exodus that took place hundreds of years after Joseph's death: "Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, 'God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place'" (Exodus 13:19). Joseph made a decision on his deathbed: "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance" (Hebrews 11:13).

He decided to die in faith, even though he did not receive what was promised. And I made the decision years ago I would rather die in faith than live in presumption or fear. I write now in faith my books will outlive me. I am building a publishing company that I hope will out-survive me. I am teaching about what I believe the Church should look like as we move on in the 21st century. What about you?

As you grow older, what is your focus? The present or the future? The current mess or the future promise? Pessimism or optimism? Are you just living your life waiting to die or are you living to live, fueled by vibrant and active faith? Joseph spoke what he believed God would do. He was an example of the truth that no one is too old for purpose or faith living. Now it's up to you to come to the same conclusion and then live your life according to that truth, speaking words of faith until the day you can't speak any longer. Have a blessed week!

Monday Memo 1157: Good As Dead

Hebrews 11 has a lot to say about Abraham, but let's focus on this one verse:

And so from this one man [Abraham], and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore (Hebrews 11:12).

You probably know the story. Abraham and Sarah couldn't have children, tried to have one through a surrogate mother, and when they had all but given up in the natural, God moved and Sarah got pregnant. We tend to romanticize stories like this because the Bible covers the years in which they took place so quickly. But put yourself in Abraham's and Sarah's place.

They had to change diapers and walk with their sick child—in their old age. They had to cook and make a life for their child—in their old age. They had to train and teach Isaac the ways of life and the ways of the Lord—in their old age. Abraham had to take Isaac to the mountain to sacrifice—in his old age. I'm sure they had help but still, a child coming in their nineties was a major interruption of life as they had known it.

And now you are challenged to learn from and be like Abraham. That means you're to trust God to do something—your business, ministry, education, or provision. You are waiting, hoping, praying and preparing, but the fulfillment of your promise or dream is in God's hands. So what if He doesn't "move" or act until you're at an age at which you thought, "it's too late"?

I'm 74 years old as I write. I'll travel 100,000 miles this year. With God's help, I'll write five books and publish 20 more for others. I work six days a week, usually from 6 am to 8 pm. And there's no end in sight. I've prayed the prayer, "Put me in, Coach" and He has and is. Like Abraham, I'm past my prime but also like Abraham, I'm available to God so we can accomplish His purpose in and through me.

I'm not interested in retirement for as someone once said, "Why would I stop doing what I love to do nothing?" My latest doctor's visit gave me a thumbs up in every area, but I know that can change without notice. So even though, like Abraham, I am "as good as dead" and in the latter part of my life, I'm alive in Christ to do all the things He puts before me to do

So what about you? What mindset do you have? Are you thinking "I'm as good as dead," and acting like it? Are you afraid to try something new or move into expressions of your purpose and creativity you haven't tried before because you think you're too old, afraid something "bad" will happen? Are you playing the "I'm too old" card, or thinking, "I'm forty and God has to move now or it will be too late", like things to happen now or else?

The truth is, it's never too late when you're in your purpose. You're only too old for purpose if you accept that thinking and then act it out. Or you can be like Abraham, seeing your best fruit in your later years, because you knew how to draw strength from the Lord as you walk in obedience to His will for your life, for which you are never too old. Have a blessed week!

Monday Memo 1156: The Mother of Faith

In the story of Abraham and Sarah, Abraham gets most of the attention for his faith, but he wasn't alone in his faith journey:

And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise (Hebrews 11:11).

Another translation says it this way: "She believed that God would keep his promise" (NLT). Sarah was trusting God right along with Abraham and together they produced faith fruit that has been set forth as a model for all to follow down through the ages.

In this series, "Never Too Old for Purpose," we're looking at people in the Bible who were fulfilling their purpose into their later years, which is why we have come to Sarah's story this week. Sarah's faith journey wasn't perfect and yours doesn't have to be either:

“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.“There, in the tent,” he said. Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?" Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh" (Genesis 18:9-15).

What do we learn about Sarah in this passage? At first, her thinking wasn't consistent with faith thinking. She was old and assumed that there were certain things she could not do at her age, and one of them was having a baby. She scoffed at such an idea, but then found out that God knew her thoughts and was ready to reveal them as a sign of His promise—not to condemn her but to reveal His power. Then Sarah lied, denying she had laughed at all, but God was revealing that He could not lie.

The beauty of the story is that none of Sarah's frailties, either physical or mental, disqualified her from receiving the promise. Hebrews 11 doesn't focus on her weakness or doubt; it endorses her faith. And that's good news for you and me, for while God is intimately acquainted with our thoughts and actions, He's still willing to use us—as long we allow our faith and not our doubt to have the last word.

About what have you said, "I'm too old"? Where have you laughed at the thought of doing something for God that you wanted to do when you were young, but have disqualified yourself due to your age? And if you're young, do you have the thought that when you're old, you (and others) are pretty much impotent where purpose and serving God are concerned?

If Abraham is the father of faith, I guess that makes Sarah the mother of it. Determine to follow both of their examples throughout your life and that will ensure that you, like they did, will have live a life of purposeful faith all the days God allows you to have. Have a blessed week!