As much as I don’t want to admit it, statistically, in a couple of years, I will enter the fourth quarter of my life. If the average American lives to about 80, I am two years from going into the fourth and final quarter. As surreal as it seems to me, I can technically get a senior discount at many restaurants. I have not taken advantage of that opportunity yet, simply because I don’t see myself as a senior citizen. In my mind, I still feel like a young man, but with every passing year, and after falling off a step ladder recently and breaking a rib, my body has warned me of what is to come. Some of you who are reading this are thinking, “You young whipper snapper, you ain’t seen nothing yet!” I’m sure you are right!

As I read through the Old Testament year after year, I am always surprised and frankly somewhat depressed to see each “good” king of Israel fail in the fourth quarter of their life and reign. This was first brought to my attention a number of years ago when I sat in on ten Bible studies at a camp with Pastor Stan Key. The study was titled, “The Good Kings of Israel.” This camp was made up of about 500 people who were deeply into the fourth quarter of their lives. At the end of every morning study, and after showing us how each king that God had called good failed in the late stages of their lives, Stan would say something like, “I don’t want to fail God in the fourth quarter of my life.”

My prayer is that God will help me finish strong as I near my fourth quarter. As I have been thinking about this, a few ways believers might fail have come to mind. 

We could fail in the fourth quarter by:

1. Resting on past experiences with God rather than walking intimately with God till the very end.
2. Getting comfortable and unwilling to take risks or live by faith till the very end. 
3. Looking down on younger generations who do not do everything the way we have throughout our lives. 
4. Failing to mentor new leaders in our families, churches, and other places, and failing to place authority into their hands. 
5. Re-living all the hurts ever done to us across the years and allowing bitterness to creep into our souls. 
6. Thinking that our best days are behind us when in reality the best days are always ahead for the believer. 
7. Quitting too early.
8. Failing to find new and meaningful roles in life when the primary ones we have always known are not possible or desirable any longer. 
9. Growing cranky and hard to work with.
10. Trusting God deeply to take care of us as we enter the birth canal of eternal life.

Lately, my mother has been struggling a lot physically and emotionally. She loves her family deeply, and it has been hard for her to accept that she may not get to see her next great-grandchild born, who will be her 85th. Lately, I have been trying to help her understand that just as a baby can’t imagine the world outside the womb, she can’t possibly imagine the beauty and magnificence of the world she is about to enter. Every dream and desire of her heart will instantly be fulfilled in ways they never could be in this world. 

So, if you are in or are about to enter the fourth quarter, I invite you to join me in looking forward to it rather than dreading it. There are things we have learned through the first three quarters that are immensely valuable to younger people. They need us to stay engaged in their lives, and we need to pass on our wisdom and love in a way that helps them to avoid our mistakes and to thrive in areas where we wish we had known more. 

One last thing. Let’s not mope our way through the end as if we have nothing to look forward to. The moment we are birthed into the eternal world is going to be the very best moment of our entire lives! 

*This article originally appeared in The Renewanation Review® magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted here by permission of RenewaNation. For more information regarding RenewaNation, visit renewanation.org.