Having found myself in a difficult health battle these past couple of years, I am thankful for several resources that have helped me approach this stage of life with strength and purpose. One such resource is Hal Habecker’s book, Aging With Purpose: 7 Essentials for Finishing Well, which seeks to motivate older Christians to make the final stage of their lives full and productive.
We usually think of youth as the prime of our life, but Habecker contends that our senior years can be just as meaningful and beneficial for the church, our friends, and our family, so long as those entering their retirement years plug into their talents, experience, and wisdom and remain open to sharing what we’ve learned through the decades with those around us. Rather than taking this wisdom with us to the grave, our accrued knowledge and experience of God’s grace give us worthy gifts to share with those who’ve yet to experience all the complexities and trials of life.
The book is divided into seven chapters, each covering one of the seven essentials that Habecker believes are fundamental to aging with purpose: growing, connecting, caring, investing in the young, being available, planning ahead, and anticipating heaven.
Growth, as Habecker defines it, is the continuing process of maturing and increasing knowledge, developing emotionally, and deepening relationships within a spiritual context. He dispenses with the assumption that advanced years alone indicate that one has experienced this kind of growth, and therefore challenges older generations to do a little self-examination to make sure that the years that the body has accumulated match the depth of character that we all expect from older people.
Habecker argues that too often seniors enter retirement years with no intention other than to live for leisure and entertainment – a life contrary to the Word of God and one that leads to emptiness and stagnation. Rather, he says, growth is a hardwired requirement for life, and he offers Biblical examples like Abraham and Moses who accomplished remarkable works well after the flower of their youth had withered.
As for connecting, Habecker says we must take deliberate action to stay connected with those we love. We can easily fall into the notion that the people in our lives who love us will just know when we’re sick or need help, and that they’ll be ready for us to offer help to them in their time of need. This is not the case. Without putting in effort to stay connected with our friends, family, and congregation, we easily fall into isolation where our contributions have no way of reaching others. Staying connected is just as important to others as it is to ourselves, and it is a primary means of aging with purpose.
Jesus summed up God’s will as loving God and loving others as ourselves, and therefore love is imperative to aging with purpose. We simply cannot practice the faith without participating in and exemplifying God’s love for others – whether it be our friends and family or total strangers. Habecker calls each of us to a daily remembrance of how Jesus loves us and how we should therefore love others.
In his chapters on investing in younger generations and being available as a source of wisdom and experience, Habecker makes the case for the older generation to give something to the younger generation that has enduring value, especially in the context of the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. If we are older, we are living out a testimony of God’s grace whether we’re conscious of it or not, and numerous passages from the Bible implicitly and explicitly demonstrate God’s expectation that we not simply keep our blessings, spiritual or material, to ourselves, but rather use them to build God’s kingdom through mentoring, coaching, counseling, and other means. To accomplish this, we must remain available and approachable.
As we progress in years and rapidly face the arrival of our own death, Habecker suggests that we should approach our passing with an intent to leave a legacy behind. From matters as simple as giving our children and grandchildren an account of the family history as we know it, to more complex catalogs of legal documents or funeral arrangements, and especially passing down our spiritual testimony, we should make our departure as much of a blessing as we can, all while looking forward to Heaven and exemplifying to others how Christians boldly approach the throne of God – not with fear or dread, but with longing and anticipation.
As founder and president of Finishing Well Ministries since 2015, Hal Habecker brings to his book 21 years of ministry experience as senior pastor of Dallas Bible Church and 14 years with the Christian Medical and Dental Associations. He served for five years on staff at First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. Joined in service to God by his wife Vicki, Habecker is now a freelance writer who lives in Fate, Texas.