The Second Half of Life

As for you folks under 40? This means "most of what you are doing now is running the first laps of the race.

Of course we all know of Caleb in the Old Testament, that great champion of the second half of life. Remember how he said to Joshua: "Give me this mountain" ( or "this hill country" say some translations). Then he added: "I am 85, and I am as strong as I was at 45." (Joshua 14)

Not surprisingly many of us are moved by the thought that like Caleb we could keep on growing and that our most valuable contributions would come in the second half of life. MacDonald reports that he has seen people with tears of gratitude in their eyes as they realise that their best years could yet be ahead. "Somehow they feel that the first 40 years have been more or less a failure… And now, at mid life, they contemplate 40 years of regretted wasted opportunities. That doesn't have to be. A Christian worships a God who can (and does) take the life of any person, turn it inside out, and use it to build a piece of his kingdom."

I like that, and I agree with that. Ever since I was a student and a young dreamer of dreams about doing evangelism in Africa and launching African Enterprise, I have prayed on a regular basis the Psalmist's prayer: "Even when I am old and grey, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come." (Ps 71:18) I remember as a young fellow feeling that this was the very best motivation with which to pray for long life, namely that one should be spared to have the maximum and fullest possible opportunity of sharing Christ to the ends of the earth and to make known His power to the next generation.

So my challenge to each one of you out there is this. If you are young, and under 35, resolve with all your heart that you will go the full distance, that you will run well and that you won't just finish off with a whimper but with a bang and with the kind of kick athletes give in the last few metres of a race. The resolution to finish strong has to be taken early in life because this motivates one to make the kinds of decisions relating to spiritual fitness, discipline and strength of soul that provide one with the resources to run the race of life well all the way.

You have to be like a marathon runner who trains so that he or she may not only run the initial kilometres with strength and distinction, but also complete the last 10 kilometres with equal distinction. And that takes a certain type of discipline, training, resolution, and vigour.

But suppose that kind of story and resolution has not been taken early in life and you are now into the second half of life and the record thus far is not very distinguished. The good news is that our God is a god of the 2nd chance and of the 102nd chance. We have in Jesus a Lord for whom it is never too late to do a fresh and renewing work in us and bring forth some transforming resolutions which lead into achievements of note and of distinction. So those of you who are over 40 please register that you can bring your lives to the Lord right now and claim from Him achievements in the second half of life that will be greater by far than those in the first half, even if you have run well in the first half. And most certainly if you have not run so well. Our God is a god of opportunity, of grace, and of matchless mercy. So why not seek from him a fresh touch upon your life, and ask for a fresh vision of what you can accomplish in the second half of life.

One of the real challenges here is that one must never allow oneself to become lazy, lackadaisical, and just slip into the mode of coasting and letting life and the world go by without seizing both by the throat till they yield what God intends them to yield in terms of our own lifetime contribution.

Let me give Gordon MacDonald the last say as he shares his practical steps towards finishing well and achieving high in the second half of life: "In the great race of life, there are some Christ followers who stand out from all the rest. I call them the resilient ones. The further they run, the stronger they get. They seem to possess these spiritual qualities:

• They are committed to finishing strong
• They run inspired by a big-picture view of life
• They run free of the weight of the past
• They run confidently, trained to go the distance
• They run in the company of a happy few." (i.e. a close group of equally committed friends.)

As this New Year gets under way, I present you with that vision, that dream, and perhaps a new set of New Year resolutions, both for the first half of your life, and yes, for the second half, when, be sure of it, your greatest achievements will take place.

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