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‘You will come to the grave in full vigour.’ Job 5:26 NIV

Author Norman Cousins said, ‘No disease is more lethal than the boredom that follows retirement.’ Here’s a true story of a lady in her eighties who went to her doctor for a check-up. He asked if she stayed active. She gave him a big smile and said, ‘I jog about seven or eight kilometres every day.’ Surprised, he told her she needed to be careful and not overdo it. ‘Take it easy,’ he suggested. She took his words to heart and decided to slow down. She reduced her jogs to slow walks, and cut back to one or two days a week. Within a year she was dead. After hearing about her death, the doctor who’d given her such advice told a friend, ‘Never again will I tell a patient who’s doing so well to take it easy.’

The Bible is filled with the stories of people who lived on because they had something to live for! Remember Caleb? At eighty-five he attacked the giants in the hill country, drove them out, and became a land developer (see Joshua 14). And how about Noah? He began building the ark when he was five hundred years old. And a hundred years later he helped to start the world all over again. Age means nothing unless you’re cheese! And wrinkles, grey hair, and spots on your hands mean less than nothing. As long as God chooses to leave you on this earth, don’t just exist—live! Claim the promise: ‘You will come to the grave in full vigour.’ Keep dreaming. Accept new challenges. And don’t even think about taking it easy!

SoulFood: Gen 50, Hag 1–2, Jn 20:1–18, Ps 105:1–7, Ecc 5:13–16

The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2024

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