Honoring the Grey Haired

I want to be an advocate for the love and honor of our grey haired fathers and mothers. Moses tells us that we are to, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Ex.20:12). Thomas Watson, in his work on the Ten Commandments, tells us that this includes honoring those who are our grey haired fathers. He says, “There is the grave ancient father, who is venerable for old age; whose grey hairs are resembled to the white flowers of the almond-tree. There are fathers for seniority, on whose wrinkled brows, and in the furrows of whose cheeks is pictured the map of old age. These fathers are to be honoured.” (Thomas Watson, Body of Divinity). In a culture that worships youth we need to be encouraged to not only honor our own grey haired fathers but those who are our neighbors.

I have been ministering with my family and others in our church in an assisted living home for over six years. We gather the residents for a half hour of worship every Sunday, praying, singing, reading God’s Word and preaching. At the close of this time we leave for our evening worship at our own church. But more times than not I am late to our worship service at our church. I often struggle with my late arrival, but it is always due to the fact that I cannot walk away from grey haired fathers and mothers too quickly. I enjoy staying with them after worship to talk, listen, encourage, exhort, and be encouraged and exhorted in a spirit of love and gentleness. They have lived long lives and have so much to share with a foolish middle aged man like myself and my family. As the writer of Ecclesiastes says, It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. (Ecclesiastes 7:5). My family has been greatly blessed by our grey haired neighbors who are a forgotten people in our culture. May the church be a city on a hill that honors our grey haired fathers and mothers while the rest of the world runs down hill to the fountain of youth and foolishness.