Why I’m Not Panicking About Getting Old

I am 27 years old.

Biologically speaking, that puts me in my prime—peak strength, peak energy, peak capability. People tell me to enjoy these years while they last—which I fully intend to do. But one thing I’ve noticed about some of those well-meaning reminders is the subtle resignation. As if my “best years” will be over before I know it, and then it’s all downhill.

The antiaging industry

That mindset has flung open the doors to a lucrative antiaging industry. Ads for miracle creams and serums promising to erase every trace of time have been around for years. But now? The obsession with staying young seems to have reached a whole new level.

Everywhere you look today, you’ll find biohacking, longevity practices and antiaging protocols. Now there are even “rejuvenation athletes,” who compete to slow their aging through hyperoptimized diets and meticulously engineered lifestyles, all chasing the same elusive goal:

Holding onto their “peak years” as long as possible.

The message is being trumpeted: aging is a problem to solve, something to fight or delay as long as possible. Youth, we’re told, is everything.

As a result, now more than ever, it seems that young people are afraid of getting old.

This is an article about why you shouldn’t be.

Spiritual opportunities don’t cease with time

Are our days few and short? Yes—objectively. Moses famously wrote, “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years . . . it is soon cut off” (Psalm 90:10). In the grand, sweeping panorama of history, this means our days are like a single, almost imperceptible, dot.

I realize that as a 27-year-old, I don’t fully understand the challenges of aging. But that doesn’t mean I should just accept the antiaging trend and glorify youth. But the Bible doesn’t teach us to cling to our youth because everything after is just a slow fade into irrelevance.

Some of the most historic spiritual feats in the Bible were accomplished by older people. Moses led Israel out of Egypt at 80. Abraham was 75 when God called him to become the father of the faithful. Caleb was pushing 85 when he helped conquer Hebron. John was in the twilight of his life when he wrote the final book of the Bible.

Does that mean young people were never in the limelight? Of course not. David took down Goliath as a young adult. Jeremiah may have started his ministry in his late teens. Josiah ascended to the throne at just 8 years old.

The fact that God has worked through both young and old people for remarkable purposes should fundamentally change our perspective about aging. If God doesn’t discriminate against any of the days He gives us, why should we? Should we be anxious about entering a new season of life when God has repeatedly shown that He can use us at any phase of our lives?

The truth is, when it comes to doing spiritual work—when it comes to producing fruits of righteousness—the ground is always fertile. Age doesn’t put a cap on our ability to grow in faith.

When we submit to God, keep learning and abound in His ways, His promise remains: “Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing” (Psalm 92:13-14).

What matters most isn’t the stage of life we’re in—but embracing the unique opportunities and lessons every stage brings. In other words, there is no “past your prime” in God’s eyes. There are only individual days God has given each of us to carefully steward.

And as Ecclesiastes 3:11 reminds us, God has “made everything beautiful in its time.”

The door to understanding is wide open

While our culture fixates on everything we lose with age, the Bible focuses on what we gain. “Wisdom is with aged men, and with length of days, understanding” (Job 12:12, emphasis added throughout).

Strength, energy, agility—the Bible acknowledges these as good things, blessings to enjoy while we have them. But it never glorifies them. Meanwhile, wisdom and understanding—the kind of deep perspective forged by time and experience—are repeatedly pictured as virtues to pursue.

But why? How do time and experience actually shape our perspective?

Consider Psalm 37:25.

David wrote, “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.”

It’s easy to read over this as just a simple reflection—just David sharing something he had observed. But there’s something more significant. This is David explaining something that time had taught him.

Had he seen God mercifully provide for other righteous Israelites as a young person? No doubt. But there’s a profound difference between witnessing something happen in isolated moments and watching it play out, over and over, across decades.

After a lifetime of seeing, learning and living, David’s understanding about God’s faithfulness reached new depths. Experience had given him a fuller, richer picture of the One he worshipped.

That’s the potential power of time and age—they can reveal patterns, reinforce truth and shape perspective in a way almost nothing else can. What David is offering is more than just his opinion. It’s the hard-earned wisdom of a life spent watching the hand of God at work. A perspective that couldn’t be rushed, but had to be built, day by day, year by year.

Aging is preparing for forever

We also need our diminishing strength and gray hairs to teach us that this life isn’t all there is. Moses understood that deeply. As an aged man, he saw the days counting down and the brevity of life becoming more and more apparent.

This was Moses’ plea to God: “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

Our days are finite, and time doesn’t slow down for anyone. Knowing that our time is limited is important—but just as important is knowing that this life isn’t the end of the story. For those in Christ, the best is still ahead.

In Christianity, the fear of death can be replaced with the glorious hope of the resurrection. No matter where we are in life, the fulfillment of that hope remains our ultimate destination. Every wrinkle, every ache, every passing year is a reminder that this world is temporary, but we’re headed for something eternal.

Paul said it well: “Though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Translation? Even as our bodies are slowing down, something far greater is happening beneath the surface—our minds and character are being refined for the life to come.

Aging brings us closer to the moment when everything we’ve lived for, everything we’ve placed our hope in, finally becomes reality. It prepares us for the future time of our resurrection—the day when our mortality is conquered and eternal life in the Kingdom of God begins.

And as we journey to that day—no matter how our bodies change or our abilities fade—we have this unshakable assurance from God: “Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you” (Isaiah 46:4).

The One who created us and sustains us will be with us every step of the way.

The gift of growing old

Taking care of our health isn’t the issue. Yes, treating our bodies with respect—being good stewards through positive lifestyle choices—is a fundamental Christian responsibility (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

But what we’re seeing in our culture is an extreme effort to avoid aging at all costs. And in chasing that, many are missing the point entirely. Aging isn’t a flaw to fix; it’s a process God designed, packed with lessons He wants us to learn.

By aging, God intends us to unlock access to experiences and insights that are valuable. Later seasons of life bring spiritual opportunities that weren’t always available earlier. With time, He wants us to grow in the kind of understanding that deepens us spiritually.

And as we get older, we become more aware of how temporary this life truly is—all the while becoming more eager for the life to come.

I realize that as a 27-year-old, I don’t fully understand the challenges of aging. But that doesn’t mean I should just accept the antiaging trend and glorify youth.

Resisting time, fighting tooth and nail against the inevitability of age—these aren’t acts of strength. They’re forms of surrender—surrender to the cultural notion that life becomes less meaningful when our young years are in the rearview mirror.

But Scripture tells a very different story. God doesn’t expect us to cling to the past or fear the future. He calls us to use every stage of life as a chance to grow closer to Him.

“The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if it is found in the way of righteousness” (Proverbs 16:31).