A member of my church who happens to be in his mid-70s told me not long ago that he has Googled how many more years he can expect to live at his age. Beyond the oddity that he can ask a search engine to give him an estimated number of years left, his experience is quite unique in human history. Life expectancy has dropped recently, but we are still living far longer than nearly every human who has come before us. Most human beings never expected to make it to 75, much less beyond.
If you were living in the Roman Empire at the time Jesus lived, average life expectancy would be somewhere between 20–33 years of age.[1] This number was so low because nearly one third of those born died before their first year and half of people died before reaching age 10. However, if you were lucky enough to turn 10, you had a pretty good chance of living to age 50, but not much beyond it. Almost everyone died before living for half a century.
It's only been in the last 100 or so years that life expectancy has increased to beyond 70 years of age. Even in 1900 it hovered around 47 if you lived in the US. This means that most of you reading this will experience or are experiencing what very few other humans have, old age.
Much can be said about this unique situation, and there are some wonderful resources available to help those beyond 70 to grow in wisdom and use their remaining years to honor the Lord.[2] However, we must be honest about the difficulties that accompany old age. The Bible doesn't shy away from them and neither should we. And yet, as we identify the struggles, glorious promises bolster us and give us hope.
When I first became an associate pastor 15 years ago in a fairly large church, I wasn’t prepared for the constant stream of emails asking for prayer for the physical needs of those in the body. Of course, many of the people needing prayer and healing were older members. Most pastors will have regular conversations with older members about the difficulties and struggles that accompany turning 70 or 80 years old.
The book of Ecclesiastes paints a vivid picture of the troubles that come with aging. Ecclesiastes 12:1 exhorts the young, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.’”
The author then strings together a series of memorable word pictures to describe the physical breakdown that comes with old age. For example, “in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed,” and a few verses later, “the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets.”
The physical changes that occur as we grow older are certainly challenging, but the difficulties don’t stop there. Aging brings a diminished capacity to do what we once did, both physically and mentally. With this reduced capacity comes a considerable change in circumstances. One simply cannot maintain the same number of projects at work or produce at the same level. Personal agency just isn’t what it once was. This produces a potential loss of significance and identity. It’s easy to feel like we are losing who we are as we age, especially if we’ve found our sense of self in accomplishments, capacity, and success.
Why bring up these challenges for those advanced in years? The book of Ecclesiastes articulates the struggle of growing old because each of us is headed toward the day when the “grasshopper will drag itself along.” We may not reach that point, but we’re certainly on that journey because our lives are transient.
One of the central messages driving the wisdom of Ecclesiastes is that our lives are temporary. We must face death. The aging process and the challenges that accompany it are a constant reminder that we won’t live forever. David Gibson writes, “One day you will come undone. God’s curse of creation in response to the fall means time will see you unmade. Maybe it will happen without the help of old age. It could come sooner rather than later. Or it may not begin to show for another thirty years. But the Preacher of Ecclesiastes is taking you by the hand and gently asking: before that day comes, how then will you live?”[3]
Living in full awareness of your coming death and the reality of growing old will shape and form how you live in the present. Ecclesiastes offers wisdom as we wrestle with the trials of aging, but we must not limit our perspective to this side of death. We must look beyond it.
While Ecclesiastes provides the most vivid and humorous description of growing old, it certainly isn’t the only one in Scripture. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul uses three words to get to the heart of the breakdown of our bodies and minds as we age. Speaking of our “natural” bodies in verses 42–43, he describes them as perishable, dishonorable, and weak.
To be perishable is to be prone to corruption and decay. It speaks directly to the way in which our physical bodies, including our minds, simply break down over time. That shoulder hurts in the morning after you work in the yard. The cartilage in your hip joint disappears and you need a replacement. Cancer invades. While we can’t always tie specific physical problems to sinful choices, the corruption of our bodies takes place because sin has entered the world.
To be weak is to have limitations and struggles. As we age, we simply can’t handle what we used to. You need help moving that table. You lack the capacity for multiple projects in a day without a nap. It’s hard to host the entire family for Thanksgiving dinner anymore.
I’ve intentionally left the middle description, dishonor, for last because I believe this gets to the heart of the struggle for many of us as we age. We know the corruption and decay of our bodies and minds, and we can’t argue with the weakness that spreads in our 60s and 70s. The dishonor hits particularly hard.
Dignity gets checked at the door of old age much of the time. The breakdown of the body is not neat, clean, or dignified. I suppose one could interpret Paul’s word, “It is sown in dishonor,” as applying only to the moment of death, but certainly the process of sickness and disease leading to death contains dishonor as well. Who wants family, friends, and loved ones to see them like this?
And yet, all three of these words are used by Paul in contrast to the spiritual body of our future resurrection. “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.”
The reality of the resurrection provides concrete and real hope for those facing the struggle of aging.
The corruption you face today will be turned into incorruption. The dishonor you feel right now will be transformed to glory and the weakness you experience will change to power. The gospel speaks good news into the trials and challenges of aging with specific promises directed to our tangible struggles.
As a pastor and shepherd, let me encourage you to make use of Paul’s contrasts in 1 Corinthians 15 to help those struggling. It’s often hard to know what to say when a believer is facing a terminal illness that will take them through some dark and difficult days of breakdown, dishonor, and weakness. Start by acknowledging the reality of their experience. This is what all of us will face in one way or another. And yet, the glory of the gospel is that Christ perished so we could be imperishable. He took our dishonor so that we could be raised in glory, and He suffered in weakness for us to experience His power. Cultivate the hope that these changes will be true for you because of Him.
References
[1] Mortality | Life Expectancy, Population Aging & Mortality Rates | Britannica Accessed on 1/20/25.
[2] I recommend A Good Old Age by Derek Prime and Finishing Our Course with Joy by J.I. Packer
[3] Gibson, David, Living Life Backwards. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2017), 144.