How Not To Grow Old Before Your Time

Introduction

3 John 2

The Apostle John said, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers”, 3 John 2.

Have you ever stopped to analyze how we came into this world? Before we were born everything was done for us. We had all the protection and comforts of home. We slept on a waterbed for nine long months. And then, what was our introduction to this world? They turned us upside down and  spanked our fanny. That was our introduction. That was our welcome mat into the world. Then they did a very horrible thing. They cut the umbilical cord, and we were left all by our lonesome selves. And, unfortunately, too many of us spend the rest of our life trying to find another place to plug it in, so we won’t have to do anything.

Just as soon as we are born the aging process begins and we are in a fight for survival the rest of our life. The first half of our life we spend our health trying to get wealth. The last half of our life we spend our wealth trying to get our health back. While we can’t stop the aging process, there are some things that we can do to slow it down. That’s what I want to talk to you about. How to keep from getting old before our time.

What is it that makes us get old in the first place? Laying aside the “Adam” factor, it is a scientific, medical fact that one of the things that accelerates the aging process is the drying of the marrow in our bones. Marrow is the soft, vascular tissue that fills the cavities of our bones and produces our red and white blood cells and platelets. According to the Bible the marrow in our bones is the innermost necessity to good health. The drying of this marrow is the major cause of getting old.

I would like to share with you seven keys that will slow down the drying of the marrow in our bones and keep us from getting old before our time. From the looks of some of us who graduated in 1958 it’s too late. However, thank the Lord it’s not too late for the rest of you. These seven keys will also give us some overwhelming advantages in being successful in life.

I. Take Care of Your Body

Key number one. The first key that will keep us from getting old before our time is obvious. Take care of our body.

Dr. McMillen, M.D., in his book, “None of These Diseases”, lists four things that scientific studies have shown to make us old before our time, and can even cause a premature death. They are: 1. Eating the fat of animals. 2. Overweight. 3. Smoking. 4. Negative emotions and stress.

I know a lady who has done just about everything possible to keep from getting old before her time. She has had so many face lifts when she blinks her eyes, her eyelids pull up her stockings.

My wife asked me the other day, “Do you still love me?” I replied, “Of course I do.” She said, “Will you still love me when I’m old and gray?” I told her I had loved her through seven other colors, why not gray.

I know a man who died when he was only 42 years old. They didn’t bury him until he was 82.

I heard of a woman who went to the doctor. He told her she needed to diet. She said what color? She was rather large. I was told she had to wear an inner tube for a garter and had to grease the sides of the bath tube to get in it.

Of course there is the other extreme. When I was going to school here I was so skinny I had to jump around in the shower to get wet. I heard of a woman who was so skinny when she got a runner in her hose she fell out of them.

I realize that none of us are perfect. Unless you are like the man I met the other day. He said he was perfect and getting better and better every day.

When I was going to school here as a young evangelist, I didn’t know enough theology to be much of a Bible preacher. So I had to preach against social issues, like smoking, drinking, cursing, dancing and spiting in the kitchen sink. In those days if we didn’t have a car and wanted to go to town, we would stand on the corner of Hickory and Ambler Street and someone would pick us up. My car was in the shop and I wanted to go to town. Someone picked me up at the corner. He was smoking so much I had to stick my head out the window. I told him smoking would not send him to hell but it sure made his car smell like it. I told him if the Lord wanted him to smoke he would have given him a smokestack by turning his nose upside down. He stopped and told me to get out of the car. He told me if the Lord wanted me to ride he would have made me with wheels. If we will take care of our body, it will keep us from getting old before our time.

II. Take Time for the Word of God

Key number two. Take time for the word of God.

In Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12, the Bible tells us that the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing, that is penetrating the marrow in our joints and affecting our senses, feelings, thoughts and even the intents of our heart.

According to our Creator, reading and mediating on His word will slow down the drying up of the marrow in our bones. It will keep us from getting old before our time.

III. Stay Out of the Ruts

Key number three. Stay out of the ruts. Webster’s Dictionary defines a “rut” as “a fixed, routine procedure or course of action that is dull and unrewarding.”

I heard someone say once, that “a rut is a grave with both ends knocked out”. All we can say about some people is, they were born in the objective case and they have been living in the subjective mood ever since. If there is any such thing as mental BO they have it.

You know the kind of person I’m talking about. They brighten up a whole room just by walking out of it. If you are in their presence for five minutes you begin to believe in retroactive birth control. If we will stay out of the ruts of life we will keep from getting old before our time.

IV. Keep a Good Sense of Humor

Key number four. Keep a good sense of humor.

Let’s not take ourselves too seriously. I think it does us good sometimes to laugh at ourselves. One of the wises men in the world said, “A merry heart does good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the (marrow of our) bones”, Proverbs 17:22.

Some people act like they have been vaccinated with pickle juice and weaned on sour kraut. A man came to me the other day ringing his hands and saying, “My next door neighbor told me to go to hell. What am I going to do?” I said to him, “Well, you don’t have to go if you don’t want too.” Let’s keep a good sense of humor and we will keep from getting old before our time.

V. Keep A Positive Attitude

Key number five. Keep a positive attitude.

I believe our attitude has more to do with our health and our success in life than any other single factor. What is attitude? Simply put it is the way we think. Our attitude is the way we think about ourselves. The way we think about other people. The way we think about our school, our job, our church and our home.

William James of Harvard University, put it this way, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude.” Our attitude determines how we feel, how we act, and the kind of mood we are in. Our attitude determines what we get out of life. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Every act rewards itself.” That’s just another way of saying what the Bible says in Galatians 6:7, “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”

A positive attitude will produce positive results. A negative attitude will produce negative results. Life is just that simple. In Job chapter 4: verse 8, the Bible says, “Those who plow iniquity and sow trouble will reap the same.” This is a fundamental law of God. Whatever it is in life that you need or want, plant that kind of seed and you’ll get it.

Jesus Christ said, “Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you give, it will be measured back to you”, Luke 6:38.

If you want friends, be friendly. If you want people to like you, you like them first. Our attitude toward ourselves will determine our attitude toward others. In other words our feelings, our actions, and our moods toward ourselves will determine our feelings, our actions, and our moods toward others. Our attitude toward others will determine their attitude toward us. In other words our feelings, our actions, and our moods toward others will determine their feelings, actions, and moods toward us. Our attitude is the outward expression of who we are. What is going on, on the inside of us shows up on the outside.

The reason some people are so judgmental and critical of others is because they don’t like themselves very much.

In Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23 the Bible says, “Keep your heart (that is keep your attitude, guard your attitude) with diligence for out of it springs the issues of life.”

I believe that our life is made up of 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we respond.

If we keep a positive attitude toward God, toward ourselves and toward others, positive things will happen to us and we will have healthy marrow in our bones.

In Proverbs chapter 3, verses 7 and 8, the Bible says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes. (In other words have a right attitude toward yourself.) Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones.”

In other words a positive attitude will keep us from getting old before our time.

VI. Be A Good Forgiver

Key number six. Be a good forgiver.

A man thumbed through the automotive section of the classified ads and he saw an ad he just could not believe. The ad read, “Almost new Jag, loaded, $200.00.” Thinking it was a misprint he called the number. Sure enough the almost brand-new Jaguar was loaded and only had 1,000 miles on it. The woman verified the price and said the first one to get to her house with the money gets the car. He got there as quickly as he could and was the first one there. He looked at the car in mint condition and thought there must be something wrong with the car. He asked, “Ma’am, is it really only $200.00?” She paused for a moment and then said, “That might be too much. I’ll let you have it for $99.00.” He said, “I’ll take it, but I must tell you the car is worth over $50,000. Why would you sell it to me for only $99.00?” She said, “My husband ran away with his secretary last week. He just sent me an email from Hawaii telling me to sell the Jag and send him the money, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Sometimes forgiveness is difficult because we want revenge. A lady who never got married took revenge with her to her grave. She requested in her will that all the pallbearers at her funeral be female. When the attorney asked way, she said, “Men wouldn’t take me out when I was alive and I’m not going to let them take me out when I’m dead.”

When we have been wronged, we can do one of three things. We can get revenge. We can get even. Or we can get ahead and feel good about ourselves.

In Proverbs chapter 16, verse 24, the Bible says, “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.”

I heard someone say once that love is never having to say I’m sorry. That’s not the reality of life. Love is having to say over and over and over again, I’m sorry. I was wrong. What can I do to make it right?

King David learned the hard way that it was not healthy to have un-confessed sins in his life. He said in Psalm 32, verse 3, “When I kept silent, my bones grew old.” I heard a noted psychiatrist say that 90% of the people, who come to him, need only one of two things. They either need to be forgiven of something or they need to forgive someone of something.

I heard about a little boy who was mad at his best friend, Andrew. They got into a fight and he told his mother, “I hate Andrew. I never want to see him again. I hope his dog dies.” The next day he was going out to play and his mother said, “Where are you going?” He said, “I’m going to play with Andrew.” She said, “I thought you never wanted to see him again and you hoped his dog died.” He said, “Yeah, I said that about Andrew, but me and Andrew are good forgivers.” Being a good forgiver will help us from getting old before our time.

VII. Practice Goal Setting

Key number seven. Practice goal setting.

The Apostle Paul was a goal-setter. He said in Philippians chapter 3, verse 14, “I press toward the goal of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Jesus Christ was a goal-setter. He fulfilled all 333 goals that were set for Him in the Old Testament.

The Bible says, “Where there is no vision (no goal) the people perish”, Proverbs 29:18.

God created us to be goal setters. Unless we practice goal setting we are nothing but an accident waiting to happen. Very little in life can be accomplished unless it first becomes a goal, either consciously or sub-consciously. Something as simple as getting up in the morning to go to class must first become a goal. You set the alarm clock for 7:00 o’clock. That was your goal to get up at a certain time.

You cannot go to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread unless it first becomes a goal. You may not have realized that these simple things were goals at the time, but they were. Our life will be nothing but a series of mistakes and accidents unless we practice goal setting. If you have never practiced goal setter, let me suggest you start with a “to do list”. Each night before you go to bed make a “to do list” for the next day. That “to do list” is simply your immediate goals for the next day.

There are four kinds of goals.

• There are life-style goals.
• There are immediate goals, like your “to do list.”
• There are short-term goals.
• And there are long-term goals.

What is a goal? A goal is simply “an objective that we strive to attain.” All sports have goals. All businesses have goals. All successful people practice goal setting. It’s no accident that you are enrolled here at Hardin Simmons University, and it will be no accident when you graduate.

The formula for any kind of success in life is to learn the art of goal-setting. You ask, “How will I know when I become successful?”

One of my mentors, Earl Nightingale, has given the best definition of success that I know. He said, “Success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal.” You don’t have to wait until you achieve your goals to be successful. Let me quote Earl Nightingale again, “success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal.” You become a success the moment you set the goal.

What I’m trying to say is, you must become mentally, from an attitude standpoint that which you wish to become. That great German philosopher, Gerder, put it this way, “Before you can do something, you must first be something.”

Our Manufactures Handbook says, “As we think in our heart, so shall we be.” Proverbs 23:7.

A famous restaurant owner was asked by a newspaper reporter, “When did you become successful?” He replied, “I was successful when I was sleeping on park benches without a dime in my pocket. I knew what I wanted to do, and I knew I would do it.”

You see, his attitude had been one of success long before he had actually achieved the reward of his success.

Conclusion

I’m about through. Stay with me now. God created you with a chemistry process that is activated the moment you set a goal. I challenge you to tap into this secret resource and learn the creative power of goal setting.

Let me show you how this God given chemistry works. First of all, when a goal has been set, our energy is funneled in that direction. This funneled energy creates determination. This determination creates motivation. This motivation creates enthusiasm. And this enthusiasm creates action. This process progressively causes us to begin realizing our goal, sometimes without us even realizing what’s happening.

This process gives us hope! It gives us purpose in life! It gives us zeal for living. It’s not failure, but lack of action that keeps most people from better health and success. Just because we fail sometimes does not mean we are a failure. The only people who are failures are those who give up and blame someone else for their failure. Failing is what we all do sometimes. Being a failure is what we are. If you feel like you are a failure, you can change that in a hurry just by changing your attitude.

Let me give you an example of this chemistry reaction that takes place when we set a goal. Suppose we went elk hunting in Alaska. One night after a long day we are sitting around the campfire having dinner and talking about the big one that got away. All of a sudden a large grizzly bear smelling the food comes out of the woods toward us. The very sight of that bear immediately creates a chemistry process within us, causing a chain-reaction of emotions to take place. Without giving it any thought, the sight of that bear causes us to set a goal. The goal is to get away from that bear. This goal, in a matter of seconds, funnels our energy. This funneled energy creates determination. This determination creates motivation. This motivation creates enthusiasm. And this enthusiasm creates action.

I realize that most goals we set in life will not be achieved quite so quickly, but the same chemistry process occurs. I must say this about our long-term goals. Our long-term goals must be visualized and verbalized from time to time to keep this chemistry process active, but it works. We can slow down the aging process by practicing goal setting.

Success is a choice! Happiness is a choice. Better health is a choice. Life is simply made up of choices and consequences. If we want to improve our life, all we need to do is improve our choices.

I would like to leave you with this final wish. May you always be cursed with the gift of dissatisfaction and divine discontent. May you have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and an appetite for self-improvement that knows no satisfaction. May you always think your best, live your noblest, love your fullest and work your hardest.

And above all else, may your belief in and devotion to our great and wonderful God grow deeper and stronger every day of your life and not be uprooted as long as you live.