Candice Watters: Embracing maturity

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 15th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next: an invitation for older women.

Dame Maggie Smith died last month, having built her acting career to great acclaim playing older women. Smith embraced old age, and the dignity and authority that went with it. It’s an unusual trait given our culture’s obsession with youth. WORLD Opinions contributor Candice Watters says older women in the church should pay attention.

CANDICE WATTERS: Recently a Wall Street Journal commentator worried about American baby boomers’ extreme efforts to stay young. Brenda Cronin writes: “Longevity is in vogue. Going gentle is yesterday’s approach. Now it’s all about thundering through middle and even old age with the brains, reflexes and agility of youth.”

I wonder if our efforts to preserve the appearance of youth is distracting us from something urgent. According to a survey from the American Enterprise Institute, Generation Z women are outnumbering the men in their age group leaving the churches they grew up in. Could it be that older Christian women are so busy trying to remain young that they’re neglecting a God-given stewardship to disciple younger women?

The survey also reveals that many young women who grew up in Christian homes appear to be rejecting God’s design for male and female. I wonder if they’ve seen older women demonstrating its goodness. Young women report they’re increasingly becoming feminists and embracing abortion and the LGBTQ agenda. Who has been there to challenge their cultural attitudes and show them a better way?

I needed to learn from older women when I was young. Phyllis was 30 years my senior when we met. She helped me grow in maturity. She knew and loved the Bible—she’d been reading it every day since she was in her 20s. When I described marriage like a tug-of-war and bristled at the word submission, she pointed me to Scripture. I watched her submit gladly to her husband, Paul. The Lord used her example to show me that His ways are higher than mine.

Another older friend said she celebrated when her hair went gray. Now she could speak boldly to younger believers as the one with what Proverbs 16:31 calls a “crown of glory… gained in a righteous life.”

What do older women neglect when they chase after youth and relate to younger women as peers?

Now I’m nearly as old as Phyllis was when we met. I know I need to delight in God’s Word in order to resist the pull of the world and my own flesh. But also, the young women in my church need women like me to be filled with the Word. When my words are God’s words I can speak more boldly no matter how challenging the message is.

Strong cultural currents are pulling many young women away from the church. Older women, we need to lay aside our desires to appear young for the sake of discipling those who are young. They need faithful older women to “teach [them] what is good.” As the Apostle Paul instructs in Titus 2 they need spiritual mothers who are willing to show them the goodness of loving their husbands and children; being self-controlled, pure, and kind; working at home; and being submissive to their husbands. As Titus 2 verses three through five says, all of this is so “that the word of God may not be reviled.”

I’m thankful God sent older women like Phyllis into my life when I was young. She trusted the Lord and His Word. She lived out a genuine, fearless faith that I want to emulate. She was content being older and spent herself discipling young women like me.

We need the Lord’s help to see the goodness and purpose in growing old. We can be confident that 2 Corinthians 4:16 is true: “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

That inner renewal is meant for kingdom purposes. Older women, be unafraid to be old. The young women are counting on you.

I’m Candice Watters.

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