The Wisdom of Old Age

26 September 2026  Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8

“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come….”  (Ecclesiastes 12:1)

The Preacher of Ecclesiastes had a pretty dim view of old age. But, of course, not many people lived to see old age in those days, and those that did had it pretty rough. According to the most reliable demographic data from the ancient world, only about 1%-3% of people lived to age 65, and in those days of unpredictable nutrition, primitive medicine, and the absence of dental care, old age was a time of painful decrepitude – hunched backs and shaking fingers, few teeth and little appetite, fading hearing and eyesight, pretty much no pleasures of any kind. No wonder he called them the “evil days” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

The people who are most competent to introduce, or reintroduce people to Jesus are those who have walked with Him for a long time, and in these days, a lot of those people are likely to be old.

A lot has changed since then. By 1900 the percentage of people surviving to age 65 was a little over half. For people born in 1930 it was 66%. For people born at the peak of the Baby Boom (1957) it was 85%.

For people born in 2010, 88%, and those who reach 65 today can expect to live on average another 20 years due to the vast improvements in medical care, dental care, and mental health. Old age is not nearly the terror that it used to be.

That is a very good thing, because old people now have a very important job to do.

The last several decades have seen a secularization so widespread that many churches are now in a membership crisis, and many theological seminaries are struggling to keep their doors open. In many Protestant denominations, membership has plummeted well over 50% since 2000, and the number of students entering seminary have declined almost 60%. In the Catholic Church, for every person who enters the Church via baptism, confirmation, or reversion, seven leave, and the shortage of priests hit a critical stage years ago. There are signs that those numbers may be stabilizing now, and in the Catholic Church there are signs that a revival could be about to start. But the damage of the previous decades has been severe, so even if there are people who are seeking to be introduced or reintroduced to Jesus, there is a shortage of people who are competent to do the introducing.

It is a good thing, therefore, that people are living longer, because we need them now. The people who are most competent to introduce, or reintroduce people to Jesus are those who have walked with Him for a long time, and in these days, a lot of those people are likely to be old.

Churches that are on the ball, therefore, need to be talking to their senior members, listening to their stories of faith, taking notes about how they have nurtured their faith at a time when so many other people were losing theirs. Senior Christians need to be writing their stories down, and sharing them, especially with their children and grandchildren. They need to be the exemplars of prayer and Bible study to nurture the signs of revival that are out there, viz., increasing attendance at worship, dramatically increased Bible sales (triple what it was in just 2016), young people seeking solutions to the problems of anxiety and loss of meaning in the story of Jesus. The gray heads in sanctuaries shouldn’t be looked at as signs of decay, but as the batteries that are keeping things running.

Abraham became the Father of Nations as an old man. Moses did all the things that made him Moses as an old man. The first person to recognize Mary as the Mother of God was an old woman, Elizabeth who became the mother of John the Baptist, and the first person to recognize the significance of Jesus was the old man Simeon, who spotted Him as soon as He came into the Temple in his parents’ arms: “For my eyes have seen your salvation” (Luke 2:30). We need more eyes like that.

Lucky for us, we have the senior disciples who have them.