Reflections on my 27th Birthday

June 30^th marks 27 years of God’s faithfulness in my life. It is funny how the American culture treasures youth, and makes us believe that our young years are the best ones we have because our muscles are stronger, or bodies trimmer, and our faces have less wrinkles.

I was jokingly bemoaning to my sister, complaining about feeling like an old, single, unemployed, late-twenty-something. She replied with good words: “I don’t feel that way at all. Am I doing what God put me here to do? Am I serving Him? Am I being faithful to my gifts? If I am, then I am happy, no matter how old, and no matter what to circumstances.” Amen. Joy that is founded in being young, accomplished, or unusually high of the corporate (or other—ministry?) ladder for one’s age is a joy that is thin and feeble compared with joy of knowing that you are doing what God called you to.

A confirming word from Spurgeon. Read, “measure your work” as “measure your years.”

“I pray, moreover, measure you work in the light of God. Are you God’s servant or not? If you are, how can you heart be cold? Are you sent by a dying Savior to proclaim his love and win the reward of his wounds, or are you not? If you are, how can you flag? Is the Spirit of the Lord upon you? Has the Lord anointed you to preach glad tidings to the poor? If he has not, do not pretend to do it, if he has, go in this thy might, and the Lord shall be your strength.” (Lectures to my Students, 317).