ACT YOUR AGE!

Act your age! What does that mean? According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it means “to stop acting childish and behave in a way that fits how old you are.” Good definition!

Everyone knows that our culture has gone downhill. This is especially true on morality and the family. We have a new, modern culture, not the old-fashioned way things used to be. Look at all the stuff we have now. Abortion. Homosexuality. Transgender. Drugs. Obsession with a computer or a phone, and much less time actually with people. Easy divorce. You don’t even have to say why, just walk out. It destroys lives, including the children, and it breaks people’s hearts. But they do it anyway. Women’s liberation. Now it costs two incomes to live the same way people used to live on one! Is that progress or what? This stuff hasn’t made things better, it’s worse. Sounds demonic to me. Don’t say it. [Could this be part of a demonic plan? Isn’t that what the Bible says? Are we in the end times or not? Don’t say it!]

And there’s the youth culture. Everyone is supposed to be a young person forever. We used to respect old people. Chinese people still do. But now everyone has to be a child. People use first names like children in school. Where I worked even the president, the CEO, wasn’t Mr. to us. No, everyone is first names. Everyone is like a child. That too is demonic. Don’t say it!

Why am I talking about this? Because there are some of you who need to stop acting like a child, and behave in a way that fits how old you are. Act your age!

I. First, some of you are getting old, but you act like you will always be young. This is what our culture teaches.

Some of you spend what you get, but do not plan for the future. The Bible says,

“There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up” (Turn to Proverbs 21:20; p. 687).

Modern translation: “A wise man saves for the future, but a foolish man spends whatever he gets.” Chinese people save money, sometimes as much as 20%, but most Americans don’t. What about you? The Bible says,

“The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want” (Proverbs 21:5).

“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished” (Proverbs 22:3).

That isn’t just for me. It’s for you, if you want to be wise.

Some of you are retirement age, or within a few years of that. If you don’t make a plan for the future and live by it, you will suffer. The Bible says, “A wise man saves for the future, but a foolish man spends whatever he gets.”

I’m going to rattle some of you, but it’s the truth and you need to hear it. You must think about your old age, and about your children. The Bible says, “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children” (Proverbs 13:22). And the Bible says,

“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (I Timothy 5:8).

I didn’t say it. God said it. If you won’t provide for your wife or your children, God says that you are worse than an infidel. You say, “I don’t deny the faith.” But God says you have. Ouch! But God said it. Believe it and change.

Let me tell you what you already know, but you don’t want to think about. The time is coming when your income will go down. Oh, no! Don’t say it! But it’s true. You will retire or be forced to retire for health reasons. So, your income will go down, not up.

And your expenses will go up. You will have medical expenses. And surprises will come up, especially regarding your health. Yes, they will. Oh, no! Don’t say it! But it’s true.

Put those two together – income down and expenses up – and YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO LIVE LIKE YOU ARE LIVING NOW. Oh, no! Don’t say it! But it’s true. Changes will be forced upon you. Our culture says you will get a 25- or 30-year retirement full of fun. I have seen people on TV who are 85 and 90 years old who run marathons and have money to travel all over the world. Trust me, that won’t be you. Some of you will hardly be able to live at all, and that’s after all those years of work. Is that a fact, or not?

I’m going to tell you a couple of things. First, if you are 65 or over, pay off your mortgage, tomorrow if you can. NO MORTGAGES FOR SENIORS, EVER. Your income will be down. You will have new expenses. You may have an emergency. You DO NOT need a mortgage hanging over your head.

And this one will take time, but it will help a lot.

Make an Excel spreadsheet of ALL your income and expenses for 2025, or even for 2024 and 2025. Put in everything. Every check. Everything on any credit card. Estimate what you needed in cash every week. ALL means ALL. This will take time, but do it. [Or maybe some computer program will do it for you, but it is best to do it yourself. You will learn more.] And try to organize it by categories: this much for gas, this much for house insurance, this much for food, this much for vacation, and so on, in detail. Every credit card separately. Every kind of expense.

At the end of all this, you will know what it cost to live last year at the standard you lived with. This is VERY helpful. It took time, but I did it.

Then count the income you expect in retirement, including Social Security, pension, 401K money, or anything else you expect to get.

If this money is LOWER than your spending last year, then you cannot live the way you did last year. Something will have to be cut, maybe a lot. But at least you will have a plan.

If you are a married couple, make sure you both understand this. Couples should be agreed. They should “on the same page.”

Then cut without mercy until the numbers match, even if that means taking a small vacation, or having one car instead of two, or not going out to eat often. But you will live!

II. Second,

some of you are in your twenties or thirties, but you act like you are children now and you will always be children. This is obviously not the truth, but people live like that anyway. It is the demonic youth culture.

In my parents’ time people got a job in their early 20s, got married by 25 or 28, and had children. Now we have 30- and 35-year-old children who still live in their parents’ house. If they do have a job, it’s a low-level that doesn’t pay much. They have no future. When your parents cannot provide for you, some of you will have no future.

Act your age! Grow up! Stop being a child. You aren’t one, you know. So what to do?

The Bible gives advice. First, choose to make friends with good people, and stay with them.

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful” (Psalm 1:1).

You will become like the people you hang out with. It does matter who you associate with.

And the Bible says, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). The friend closer than a brother, of course, is Jesus Christ. But I say, if you want friends, you have to make a deliberate attempt to try, to be nice to them. You have to do things for them. I’m not a social person, so I had to work on this. But I do have some friends.

III. Third, get your career going.

Stop being a child. Get up off your pompis (rear end). Make something out of your life. The Bible says,

“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before [low] men” (Proverbs 22:29).

And then,

“In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to [poverty]” (Proverbs 14:23).

IV. Fourth, get married.

I know everyone is staring at your computer or your phone until your mind burns out. But the right way is to get married and raise a family. The Bible says,

“Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord” (Proverbs 18:22).

And the Bible says,

“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).

That’s how to choose, that’s what to look for. Take your time.

Yes, have children! God said, “Be fruitful, and multiply.” And Meng Fu-Tse said the most important part of filial piety is to have children. Or your family line will die out. This will dishonor your own parents. And if you listen to the modern garbage, you will die alone!

You may say, “I don’t have anyone now.” Ask God to provide the right person. Don’t rush into just anyone. Dr. Hymers prayed for a wife, and God gave him Mrs. Hymers.

And fourth, use your youth wisely. Use its energy wisely. The Bible says,

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

Do things for God while you still have energy. When you get old you will be in what the verse calls “the evil days.” Your body gets weak and sick, and you have aches and pains. I can tell you about that. No pleasure in them. Use your youth. Don’t throw the years away. Don’t consider yourself a child. You are not. Act your age!

V. Fifth, some of you, of all ages, are throwing away your soul.

Please don’t do that! But you do. The Bible warns you,

“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation” (Hebrews 2:3).

The word “neglect” means “let it go” or “don’t pay attention to it.” But you are doing just that with your soul. The Bible says you will not escape. You will burn in Hell. Jesus died to give you salvation, but you neglected. You let it go. You will have no way to get out, and no excuse.

The Bible says,

“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2).

Now is all you have.

Don’t plan on trusting Jesus when you are lying on your deathbed. Don’t plan on trusting Jesus after you have done everything in your life that you wanted to accomplish. Don’t plan on trusting Jesus after you become a Bible expert. Don’t plan on trusting Jesus after you think about it for 5 or 10 or 20 years. Now is the only time you have!

Let’s face it. You are a bad sinner. But Jesus died on the Cross to pay for your sin. He rose from the grave to give you new life. He shed His Blood to wash your sin away. If you trust Jesus, you will be forgiven and saved forever. Please do that. Amen.