Don't Rebuke An Older Man Harshly!

My heart broke as I watched the interchange between an old man and a young woman at the restaurant we ate at on Saturday morning.  Glenda and I had just finished our breakfast and walked up to the cash register to pay for our food.  There was no one there. About that time an elderly man walked into the room and in light conversation said to me, "I guess I will have to take your money!"  My response to him with a laugh, was "Sure! How much do yo want?"  We laughed together and meanwhile another man came into the area to pay his bill.  Now three of us stood there.  A moment later more people walked into the front area of the restaurant and stood there waiting for someone to seat them.  All together, there were probably a dozen or more people standing around waiting to go in or go out.

As we stood there, the elderly man that I first talked with was wiping blood off his arm with a napkin. He had brushed against the door frame and with his skin thinning, as it does for older people, the blood was running down his arm.  I commented to him that I have the same problem, and we stood there talking some more.  About that time a young waitress came and started taking the money for those who had been waiting to pay for their breakfast.  When the older man got his turn, he laid the napkin down on the cashiers counter.  She exploded.  He tried to regroup in his thinking.  He quickly picked it up, and in his haste dropped it on the floor.  She exploded at him again.  Then she told him, "Get out! Just get out of here!  I'm not kidding!  I am serious.  Go away and don't come back!"  The man was confused.  In his mind he was stuck between "Is she joking?" and "Is she serious?" He was embarrassed and humiliated. As she went on humiliating him in front of the dozen or more people standing there, he threw his money on the counter and turned and left the building.  I paid my bill and went looking for him, but he was no where to be found.  As I said, my heart broke for him.  Worse yet, my anger kindled as I watched this take place and I said nothing to her.  I was as guilty as she was!

In I Timothy 5:1, we are told, "Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. 

Treat younger men as brothers,"

My mind wrapped around this verse and I thought, "If only she knew what she had just done."  My advice to everyone reading this is this;  don't let older people bum you out. Show abnormal amounts of patience toward them even when they don't do just as you would like for them to do.  They are going through changes in their life that we (younger people:)) don't know about and don't understand.  In the last few months I have gone through the same thinning of my skin.  All I have to do is bump against something and the blood runs down my arm.  At any given time I have marks on my arm that look like I have been some sort of battle.

But that is not the worst.  As we age, our minds are not as sharp as they once were.  It takes just a moment longer to sort things out.  At the intersection of two streets, we need an extra moment to make sure someone isn't coming from the side direction.  At the difficult moments is life, it takes an extra second or two to even see the potential danger. In the conversations of life, we may repeat a story or say something that is offending and not even mean it that way.  

When dealing with older people, encourage them as you would your father.  As Christians, it is important for us get a good handle on this.  There are enough people in the world that will just verbally blow the old man or the old woman away!  We must be the light of Jesus and show love in every situation.  Think about this!