In Chase the Lion, Mark Batterson talks about a special sermon by Dr. Halverson called the “old man speech.”

Here’s the gist of what he says: You’re going to meet an old man one day down the road. He will be you. He is the composite of everything you are thinking, saying and doing right now. You’re becoming more and more like him each and every day. Choose wisely.*

It applies, of course, to both men and women.

It’s a captivating idea. Imagine meeting your future self when you are an old man or an old woman. For some of you that might be a long time from now. For others, perhaps it’s next year. 

Halverson wants to make us reflect on our choices in the here and now. That older person in the future is the “composite” of what we are thinking, saying and doing…

Right now. 

As we think about this, we need to keep in mind that we are not in bondage to our past. We can repent from sin, change directions, continue to learn, and end up in a place (physically, mentally or spiritually) which is different from what we had expected. 

But the point is to make you think about what you are thinking, saying and doing right now and how that impacts who you are going to be in the future.

Choose wisely.

At the end of his life Paul penned these famous words: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). Earlier he had chased down and persecuted Christians. He had a conversion experience and became a huge evangelist. In his earlier days he wrote to the Galatians. As he matured he penned the majestic letter to the Romans. Toward the end he shared his enduring wisdom with the young Timothy. He was eventually imprisoned and (most likely) put to death. 

Maturity doesn’t just happen. It builds upon life lived and lessons learned.

I want the future me to be more like Jesus than I am today. I want the future me to be wise and loving, humble and courageous. I want the future me to be a consistent blessing to the people around me, even if my sight is fading, my memory is patchy, and my bones are brittle. 

Think of the future you. Think of now. Choose wisely.

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Notes:

–The Up Devotional is published 5 days a week on returns on November 11, 2024.

–*Summarized from: Mark Batterson, Chase the Lion (New York: Multnomah, 2016), 200.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.