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I realize that most people don’t ponder some of the weird issues that pastors must face. Since I engage a great deal in cultural matters that often must be addressed, it is necessary for me to go to Scripture to get the needed counsel.  The matter of a mid-life crisis has surfaced over the last few decades causing much anxiety in our society.  The thinking goes something like this:  “I just turned 40, and half of my life is over.  Where did the time go?  What have I accomplished?  I thought I would be further along than I am in my career.  Is this what success looks like?  The next 40 will only be worse because my health will deteriorate and my income potential will wane.”

Such thoughts only exist in materialistic nations. We become attached to health, wealth, power, fun, and stuff that keeps us clinging to this world.  Methuselah lived 969 years.  I remember wondering a number of years ago if he ever had a mid-life crisis.  At 450, did he say to his wife, “Where have the centuries gone?  Why, it seems like just 100 years ago we bought our first home.”

What is most interesting is that Scripture never addresses this issue except from an eternal perspective. The Bible tells us that we all have the same life expectancy.  It is called a vapor in James 4:14.  We are told not to presume upon the future, because we don’t know what will happen tomorrow.  When we develop an eternal perspective, “the things of this world grow strangely dim,” as the hymn writer expressed it.  We rejoice that we are closer to the new heavens and the new earth than when we first believed.

This is why Scripture exhorts us to think on those things that are above (Colossians 3:1-3). Such a focus keeps us away from the mid-life crisis battle. By the way, if you have eternal life, there is no midpoint.