Are You Too Old to Change?

There’s a great deal of expectation for children to develop and grow. Why not? If they didn’t we would be changing our teenager’s diapers! I see our kids working really hard to teach our grandchildren to properly use the bathroom. It’s not only good for the kids, the parents benefit too!

Do you know that adults struggle with change? It seems to me that after about age 30, many people stop growing and developing. They slide into “life habits” and start coasting. It’s very unfortunate. In childhood and adolescence, the young are subject to structured education in school, forcing them to grow and learn. But real education, life education requiring serious change and development, really becomes necessary in adulthood, and it never ends until death. Most people coast because they become comfortable, and therefore complacent about their life development. They don’t have the interest or motivation to change.

The Scriptures are written almost exclusively for adults, and yet the Scriptures command people to change. One key passage is 2 Timothy 2:15, which is part of a larger set of instructions for people to take their spiritual growth and development seriously, else they lose it!

“Make every effort to present yourself before G-d as tried and true, as an unashamed worker cutting a straight path with the word of truth.”

A big requirement for change has to be community. It’s hard to change all by yourself; you need others who know you very, very well, to help you make serious change in your life. That’s why the Scripture commands close community, something very rarely practiced among believers today in America. We are too busy for one another it seems, too busy for G-d as well. Too busy to really make any serious spiritual change. But Hebrews 10:24-25 commands us otherwise:

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds. And do not neglect our own meetings, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another—and all the more so as you see the Day approaching.”

The Jewish New Year of 5785 has started. Take time during the High Holidays this year to reflect on your life: your priorities, the use of your time, your values, your commitment to G-d. What needs to change? I don’t care how old you are! What needs to change so you can better fulfill G-d’s expectation for your life. You’re never too old to change!

Forward for Messiah!

Kirk Gliebe

Rabbi & Director