The BIG 7-0
Well, like they say, the cat’s out of the bag. I will be turning 70 this week.
FOLLOW ALONG WITH AN AUDIO NARRATION OF PS. WARNER’S BLOG
Since our whole congregation outed me Sunday morning, and then followed up with an Instagram post confirming this fact, it’s not much of a secret. It shouldn’t be.
Normally, I don’t make a big deal about birthdays. After all, my hair started turning gray in my thirties, and since I have no power over the tidal wave of time, I’ve treated most birthdays happily, but as just another day.
“The fortuitous fact that my Big 7-0 falls on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, has made me approach this birthday a little differently. This confluence is worth stopping for a moment to ponder.”
The fortuitous fact that my Big 7-0 falls on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, has made me approach this birthday a little differently. This confluence is worth stopping for a moment to ponder.
If you pay attention to biblical numerics, you know that 70 has sacred meaning, since it is made up of two perfect numbers: seven (representing perfection) and ten (representing completeness and God’s law). Biblestudy.org says “As such, it symbolizes perfect spiritual order carried out with all power.”
Hmm… sounds good, except that up to this point, perfection has eluded me, and I’m not all that powerful. If I might get a big head over it, I bear in mind that 70 can also represent a period of judgment in Scripture. Maybe that’s why I don’t bow at the altar of numerics.
Moses tells me that I’ve achieved the minimum standard of “threescore years and ten.” Even with longer projected life spans (70 being the new 60) it does not do away with the brevity of life. Although, my mom is 92, so hopefully one of those genes made its way to me.
Whether many or few, it’s how you fill those days that ultimately matters.
If I turn to the physical sciences for significance, 70 on the periodic table refers to Ytterbium, which is hard to say and harder to understand. Even Wikipedia can’t shed any light on how this rare earth mineral may be significant to my birthday.
“ Even Wikipedia can’t shed any light on how this rare earth mineral may be significant to my birthday.”
Two things are tangible, though. According to the Social Security Administration, 70 is as good as it gets. You are eligible for social security benefits at 65, but if you wait till 70, you earn the whole shazzam. So, I’m assuming Uncle Sam will start sending me some money, once I’ve worked out all those details.
But for me, turning 70 on Thanksgiving Day is like landing on Boardwalk or Park Place in Monopoly. It symbolizes striking it rich. If I must turn 70, what better day could I have chosen (if I had that choice) than this day which symbolizes how I feel about my life?
How extremely fortunate I feel for all that I’ve experienced, for my wife of 47 years (who alone requires a whole book in which to express my gratitude), for the incredible church I pastor, and for my extended family (most of whom live on the East Coast). No doubt I’ll be fielding numerous phone calls and text messages on Thanksgiving Day. No problem. For that, I will be open for business.
Here’s what hooked me, though. I was recently preaching from a text in the NIV (1983 version). My research showed that the NIV Bible translation was first published in 1978, and then revised versions were released in 1978 and 1983. It made me think of the 70-year version of my life compared to previous iterations. An article I read recently explained that Apple’s key to innovation was not just in its breakthroughs or groundbreaking products, but in its iterations. Thank God, I’m not the man I was fifty years ago when I came to Christ. I’m more concerned with the man I’m becoming now.
So as I begin the seventieth version of my life, here is what I’m feeling.
First, is a deep, deep sense of immense gratitude. I want this predominant chord of gratitude to be the distinctive tone of my life. The last thing in the world I want to become is a grumpy old cripple. Anyone who can reach 70 years of age without an overflowing abundance of gratitude has ceased to be a sentient being. Words can’t express the how grateful I feel to God for saving me and preserving me by His grace. I am aware of the immense impact that the prayers of the saints have contributed to these blessings.
Second, I carry a deep sense of the value of the blessed connections in my life. I’m so appreciative of the people I’ve been privileged to know and serve and partner with in the work of the Gospel. My mind is flooded with the names and faces of so many people around the world. My life is so much richer as a result, and I trust the same can be said on their end. I’ve lived with the reality of Paul’s testimony, “that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.”
Third, I’m so blessed by the fullness of my life. I’m not very good at attaching specific dates to so many events – my life is more like a living orb filled with a host of countless experiences, events, people, traumas, and joys. Many of the Bible patriarchs died “full of days.” I don’t just view this quantitatively but qualitatively. Fullness is such an attribute of Jesus Christ and what He brings into our lives. Since the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in the Lord, the result is that we are “complete in Him.”
“I’m convinced of how critically important it is to process life accurately.”
Fourth, I’m convinced of how critically important it is to process life accurately. It’s true that life is not so much what happens to you, but how you respond to what happens to you. When people fail to process hurts, disappointments, and setbacks, they end up becoming stuck in life, unable to grow, and increasingly cynical. Nothing magical occurs to change that mindset just because it’s your birthday. I’ve observed over the years that people generally die in the same state in which they lived. All the more reason to say, “Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should” (Psalm 90:12).
Fifth, a sense of contentment in and commitment to God’s will. Home, for the child of God, is in the will of God. It is there that nothing can happen that He doesn’t allow. The psalmist declared: “All my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began” (Psalm 139:16). Whether 17 or 70, in good days and bad days, in the planned for and in the unexpected, our steps are “ordered by the Lord” (Psalm 37:23).
I received an email today which said “There is no feeling in the world like knowing that your life, and the lives of your family (and what happens to them) are all in God’s control, and that you are in the palm of His hand.” This is not an incentive for passivity. Rather it does suggest doing away with non-essentials and focusing on what matters. I can do so by holding to God’s promise that “they will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green” (Psalm 92:14).
“they will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green”
I know it sounds cliché to say I’m experiencing a second wind, but I am enjoying something of that. For the last three months I’ve experienced an unusual dimension of grace, inspiration, and anointing, and for that I am grateful. I want to live out the mindset that Paul describes for the Philippians in chapter 3:12-14, when he says, “Let all of us who are mature think this way.” What way is that?
The Message Paraphrase puts it this way: “I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward – to Jesus. I’m off and running and I’m not turning back.”