A 104-year-old woman was interviewed by a reporter.”And what do you think is the best thing about being 104?” the reporter asked. She simply replied, “No peer pressure.”
Another seasoned citizen had the following to say about growing old. “I’ve sure gotten old! I have outlived my feet and my teeth. I’ve had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement, new knees, fought prostate cancer and diabetes can’t hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. Have bouts with dementia. Have poor circulation; hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Can’t remember if I’m 85 or 92. Have lost all my friends. But, thank God, I still have my driver’s license!”
King Solomon wrote, ” The gray head is a crown of glory, if…it be found in the way of righteousness.
But what exactly is righteousness? Doing the right thing? Being good by whatever definition you choose?
Paul wrote, “For he(the Father) has made him(the Son) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him”.
Jesus told this story: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get”.
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner”.
Righteousness is a gift from above, not something evoked from within. When we say,” God, have mercy on me, a sinner” we open our heart to Him and He extends His righteousness to us.
