OLD AGE SIN [F, 1-23-26]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Irrelevant Musings of An Old Man—OLD AGE SIN [F, 1-23-26]

 

One of my favorite books is Philip Yancey’s The Jesus I Never Knew. It stakes out a thoughtful middle ground between evangelicals and liberals, just as Yancey has in person, in all his writing and teaching, throughout his 76 years.

Neither I, nor his wife, nor anyone else, thought that he would start an eight-year affair with a married woman when he was 68 years old. I mean, shouldn’t you be over that by then? No, not over being sexual. You’re not too old at 68 to be sexual, but you’re too old to be hurtful… and hypocritical…and duplicitous…and just plain stupid! Aren’t you?

Well, I say to myself, Yancey is almost a whole generation younger than you are, and you’re still stupid, so why should you expect him to be smart when he’s still so young and immature?

Well, because I need to know that there are people who are NOT as stupid as I am! Otherwise, there is no way I can get up each morning and say, “Today I’m going to get it right! Today I’m using my smart brain! Today I’m going to be like Philip Yancey! He always knows the right thing to say. He always knows what God wants. He always walks in Godly ways.” Well, maybe not…

Actually, I’ve never said that about Yancey, or maybe anyone else specifically, but when I get up each morning, determined finally to be perfect in every way, I have a whole host of people I admire who are a cloud of witnesses in my brain and spirit, showing me the way to go. I know I can’t get through the day on my own. I need help.

Here would be a good place to talk about forgiveness, but that’s really for Yancey and his wife and the “other woman” and her husband and… I can’t claim to be hurt, that I need to forgive him. I can certainly pray for him, and for his wife, and the others, pray for them to be able to find the forgivenesses that they need to extend and accept, and I do that.

But, my job now is to listen to Yancey as, in his sin and stupidity, he still guides me, still witnesses, reminding me that none of us is perfect, that we are all subject to sin, and maybe the best way is not to get up each morning saying not, “Today I’m going to be perfect,” but to say, “Today I’m going to let God lead me.”

John Robert McFarland

“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” [Ravi Zacharias.]