Grey hair is a Crown of Glory. It is gained by a righteous life. – Proverbs 16:31
The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age. They are ever full of sap and green to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him. (Psalms 92:12-15)
Instructions for the Church in 1 Timothy 5:1
“Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, in all purity.”
So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, but willingly, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves – all of you – with humility toward one another for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. (1 Peter 1:5)
The Stage of a Man’s Life Called “the Sage”
Excerpts from Fathered by God (John Eldredge, 2009, Thomas Nelson)
“I am old enough to be scripturally dead. I want this possible extension of life to be hard as always, but also new, something not done before: like writing stories, or preaching or discipling others. This is the heart of the Sage: to make his greatest contribution with the last years of his life. At this stage a man’s kingdom may be shrinking. But his influence should actually increase. A Sage differs from an expert the way a lover differs from an expert.
“The Sage communes with God – an existence different from and utterly superior to the life of the expert. Whatever counsel he offers, he draws you to God, not to self-reliance.
“Our culture in the progressive West has dismissed the elderly for years now, because we have worshiped adolescence. This is why we have a world now of uninitiated men. Thus the heart of the Sage is wounded when he is dismissed or sent to exile or Scottsdale – which is pretty much the same. No one seems to want what he has to offer and he comes to believe after a time that it is because he has nothing to offer.
“It is important that we ask, because often in humility the Sage will not offer until he is invited to do so. It is also important that we ask quite often, because the Sage himself is not aware of all that he knows. It is the question that stirs his soul; his memory as a smoldering fire leaps to life again when stirred. In this way we can help to raise the Sage.”
Read more about Stan Goss at Memoirs of Grace: How Unimaginable Tragedies Shaped the Life of Stan Goss and visit Crown of Glory at their official Facebook page. Goss headlined the Katy Christian Chamber of Commerce on February 17, 2023 and has trained executives and managers at hospitals, news channels and energy companies.
