“My Life Feels Pointless”

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | So how do we continue on when this life feels pointless?

00:00:08.500 | Like when we are treading water

00:00:10.400 | and it just feels like we're passing time

00:00:12.120 | until this life is over.

00:00:14.280 | It's a raw and honest question from Fred,

00:00:17.080 | an older gentleman who does not give us his exact age,

00:00:20.440 | but Fred wrote us to say this,

00:00:22.160 | "Pastor John, I avoid the thought

00:00:24.240 | "because I don't want to go down this path,

00:00:25.940 | "but deep within me I long for death

00:00:29.380 | "because it will release me from what I consider

00:00:31.280 | "so far to be a pretty joyless life.

00:00:34.580 | "The joyful moments of relationship with God

00:00:36.560 | "seem to be few and far between now,

00:00:38.800 | "and it just seems like my life

00:00:39.940 | "is really just a matter of passing time

00:00:42.560 | "until Jesus either returns or calls me home.

00:00:46.140 | "What advice can you give me?

00:00:48.200 | "I feel really exhausted."

00:00:51.200 | The first thing I want to say to Fred

00:00:54.320 | is that growing weary with this world in old age

00:00:59.240 | is normal and good.

00:01:02.880 | It's normal because our energy is being depleted by age,

00:01:07.880 | and it's good because in this broken world,

00:01:13.360 | Christians are not really at home.

00:01:16.760 | Our citizenship is in heaven,

00:01:19.120 | and we are designed as new creatures in Christ

00:01:22.560 | for a new heaven and a new earth with glorified bodies,

00:01:26.920 | so don't be too hard on yourself for feeling weariness

00:01:31.920 | with this old, worn-out, dying, corrupt world.

00:01:35.880 | You were made for something better, and it is coming.

00:01:40.240 | But what is sinful is letting our weariness

00:01:45.240 | become cynical or hopeless or joyless or meaningless,

00:01:51.920 | so let me try to help Fred by just mentioning

00:01:56.920 | five or six things that might be an encouragement

00:02:01.040 | and a guidance.

00:02:01.960 | First, keep the promises of God before your mind

00:02:06.040 | day and night.

00:02:06.880 | Some of them are wonderfully designed

00:02:09.600 | for old people like us.

00:02:12.240 | Here's what Isaiah 46.3 says.

00:02:15.040 | "Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

00:02:17.380 | "all the remnant of the house of Israel

00:02:19.400 | "who have been born by me from before your birth,

00:02:22.960 | "carried from the womb,

00:02:24.580 | "even to your old age I am he,

00:02:28.480 | "and to gray hairs I will carry you.

00:02:32.320 | "I have made and I will bear,

00:02:35.120 | "I will carry and will save."

00:02:38.360 | In other words, the greatness of our God

00:02:42.320 | is not that he demands us to carry him

00:02:44.840 | like the Babylonian gods on carts,

00:02:47.880 | but that he shows his strength in carrying us,

00:02:51.480 | and the weaker we get, the more precious that promise is.

00:02:56.320 | So keep the promises of God before your mind,

00:02:58.760 | especially the ones designed for us.

00:03:01.580 | Number two, never forget that you are not

00:03:05.960 | still here by accident.

00:03:09.680 | God gave you life and God will take your life.

00:03:13.560 | The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.

00:03:16.360 | Blessed be the name of the Lord, Job chapter one.

00:03:19.080 | And God does nothing randomly or whimsically.

00:03:23.960 | He has gloriously wise reasons for everything he does,

00:03:28.960 | even if we can't see them.

00:03:32.200 | So you are still on this earth for a divine reason.

00:03:37.140 | Your life is not meaningless.

00:03:40.000 | You are not here by accident.

00:03:41.760 | God is sovereign.

00:03:43.640 | If he has you still here, he has good reasons.

00:03:46.880 | Bank on it, trust him.

00:03:49.040 | Three, don't medicate your sadness

00:03:52.960 | and weariness with television.

00:03:55.500 | There are some things, I don't doubt,

00:04:01.480 | that may provide innocent and wholesome recreation

00:04:06.200 | for your mind, but they are so few,

00:04:09.760 | and so far between.

00:04:11.560 | Most television and most advertisements on television

00:04:15.640 | drag your soul away from Christ.

00:04:18.920 | They don't promote holiness and purity

00:04:21.600 | and heavenly mindedness and nobility of soul.

00:04:25.640 | They make you feel small and stupid and silly and childish.

00:04:30.640 | So don't join the millions of old people

00:04:35.000 | who simply vegetate in front of animated worldliness.

00:04:40.080 | Number four, if you can read, read the Bible

00:04:44.840 | and read good books about God and his world.

00:04:47.760 | If you can't read, get somebody to help you

00:04:52.760 | get set up with audio books and listen to the Bible

00:04:57.720 | and listen to important books, great books,

00:05:00.360 | insightful books, interesting books.

00:05:03.480 | God has so much to teach us in our old age,

00:05:07.560 | and we never lose our need of being reminded

00:05:11.520 | of great things that we once knew and have now forgotten.

00:05:16.520 | He has given us an utterly fascinating world

00:05:21.080 | to understand and enjoy.

00:05:23.640 | So find a way to keep growing in your knowledge

00:05:28.240 | and in grace.

00:05:29.960 | Fifth, be among God's people at church

00:05:33.040 | and ask the leaders of your church how you can serve

00:05:36.800 | given your limitations.

00:05:39.040 | God created us, all of us, to be useful.

00:05:43.680 | And one of the greatest frustrations of growing old

00:05:47.400 | is the sense of uselessness.

00:05:49.840 | But if you have any strength or any mobility left,

00:05:54.840 | you can find some way to serve.

00:05:57.560 | And that's the last thing.

00:05:59.840 | Number six is kind of a sub point, I suppose, of number five.

00:06:04.840 | Find someone you can care for, give yourself to.

00:06:09.840 | And that care may be as simple as reading to them

00:06:15.280 | or taking them for a walk or giving them a shoulder rub

00:06:20.080 | or showing an interest in their life.

00:06:23.880 | There are always people who have needs.

00:06:26.080 | And until we're paralyzed, in bed, unable to move,

00:06:30.440 | we probably can make some small contribution

00:06:34.560 | to someone else's life.

00:06:36.880 | You were made for that, Fred.

00:06:38.640 | You were made to love and serve.

00:06:41.640 | So seek it out.

00:06:42.560 | This is the path of joy because Jesus said,

00:06:45.840 | "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

00:06:49.280 | And Fred, I don't know if you like poetry,

00:06:53.560 | but I'm gonna end with a poem.

00:06:56.040 | It's one of my favorites.

00:06:57.200 | It's written by John Milton who wrote "Paradise Lost."

00:07:02.840 | It's called "On His Blindness."

00:07:06.040 | He went blind at age 46.

00:07:08.720 | That's when it finished anyway.

00:07:10.640 | He couldn't see anything after age 46.

00:07:12.720 | He lived another 20 years till 1674, totally blind.

00:07:17.720 | And this poem is about his struggle with feeling useless

00:07:25.160 | and yet coming to a very crucial insight.

00:07:30.600 | So, "When I consider how my light is spent

00:07:34.760 | ere half my days in this dark world and wide,

00:07:39.640 | and that one talent which is death to hide

00:07:42.760 | lodged with me useless,

00:07:45.720 | though my soul more bent to serve there with my maker

00:07:49.800 | and present my true account lest he returning chide.

00:07:53.000 | Doth God exact day labor light denied, I fondly ask?

00:07:59.800 | But patience, to prevent that murmur soon replies,

00:08:04.280 | God doth not need either man's work or his own gifts.

00:08:09.280 | Who best bear his mild yoke, they serve him best.

00:08:13.400 | His state is kingly, thousands at his bidding speed

00:08:18.400 | and post or land and ocean without rest.

00:08:22.600 | They also serve who only stand and wait."

00:08:29.560 | Hmm, profound.

00:08:31.840 | Yeah, imagine your trade being in writing and reading

00:08:36.160 | like Milton and then facing blindness by age 46.

00:08:39.760 | I mean, talk about a midlife crisis

00:08:42.080 | and here he is standing ready to serve God.

00:08:45.120 | So in this context, I mean, the king and his warriors,

00:08:48.120 | Milton sees himself as willing to act,

00:08:50.920 | but as a soldier, he is often assigned

00:08:53.520 | with the duty of watching and waiting.

00:08:56.960 | Wow, that is worth listening to over and over a few times

00:09:00.880 | for it to sink in.

00:09:01.760 | Thank you, Pastor John, for bringing this poem

00:09:04.120 | into the discussion.

00:09:06.000 | And Fred, thank you for the question.

00:09:08.600 | I should point out here that Pastor John

00:09:10.360 | has a little book on this theme entitled,

00:09:11.960 | "Rethinking Retirement, Finishing Life

00:09:15.160 | for the Glory of Christ."

00:09:16.120 | You can download the whole thing free right now

00:09:18.480 | at desiringgod.org/books.

00:09:21.000 | Again, the title is "Rethinking Retirement."

00:09:24.700 | You can get it right now from the site

00:09:26.520 | and we appreciate you listening to the podcast.

00:09:28.720 | We publish three times a week

00:09:29.960 | and you can subscribe to our audio feeds

00:09:31.480 | and search our episode archive

00:09:32.800 | and even reach us by email with a difficulty

00:09:34.400 | you might be facing in life,

00:09:35.440 | even with challenges of finding purpose in this life.

00:09:38.640 | You can do all of that through our online home

00:09:40.400 | at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.

00:09:44.120 | Well, we're gonna close the week hearing

00:09:47.040 | from a female listener who finds herself stuck

00:09:49.840 | in a deep season of grief and sorrow that will not pass.

00:09:55.440 | So how can she honor God inside this unalleviated pain?

00:10:00.440 | That's on Friday.

00:10:01.640 | I'm your host Tony Reinke and we'll see you then.

00:10:04.080 | (upbeat music)

00:10:06.660 | (upbeat music)

00:10:09.240 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

“My Life Feels Pointless”

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