Fruit in Old Age

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 7
 
“Those that are planted in the house of Jehovah shall flourish in the courts of our God: they are still vigorous in old age, they are full of sap and green” (Psalm 92:13-1413Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; (Psalm 92:13‑14) JND)
“I bow my knees unto the Father  ...  that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-1914For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. (Ephesians 3:14‑19)).
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-76As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6‑7)).
Sometimes we think of old age as a time of withering. God looks at it differently.
Older sisters, if you are planted in the house of the Lord, if your lives are lived in the presence of the Lord, God views you as flourishing, vigorous, bringing forth fruit (KJV), full of sap, and green. The body and even the mind may grow weak, but you may still bring forth the fruit of the Spirit in abundance. It does not take youthful vigor to be strengthened in the inner man and to be filled with the fullness of God. As your outward man perishes, your inward man can be renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:1616For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)). God wants us all to be full of sap. Sap comes up from the roots, and we are to be rooted and built up in Him. As our ability to serve is curtailed because of increasing physical weakness, our roots may grow deeper and longer. We are never useless in God’s sight. Sap rises spontaneously, and if our hearts are full of Christ, it will show. Sap is sweet. When Christ dwells in our hearts by faith and we are rooted and grounded in love, what comes out when we are tapped with adversity will be sweet — full of Christ and full of thanksgiving. God does not leave older saints here as withered and of little worth; in His eyes they are still green with the life He has given. Those who are younger can be helped by them, as by trees whose leaves are for the healing of the nations (Rev. 22:22In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:2)).