Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
2 27 2026
There comes a point in a man’s life when the math changes…You stop counting how far you’ve come… and start wondering how far is left.
Ten years?
Twenty?
Maybe more.
Maybe less.
An older Christian man begins to think differently. Not morbidly. Not fearfully. Just honestly.
He knows he will see the face of Christ. He looks forward to the glory, the splendor, the reunion, the absence of pain. But here’s the deeper question:
Why do we have to consider this question only because you’re older?
What about younger men learning from the wiser sage?
How often have we said, if I knew back then what I know now.
What about now? You’re healthy. But a near friend is struck down. Young. Heart attack. Cancer. Car accident. When is it too young to wonder how much time you have left and change your filter.
Not heaven someday.
But this afternoon.
This season.
This body that’s slowing.
This life that didn’t turn out exactly like he imagined.
What would make an old man truly happy?
Or a younger man. How often have you heard an older person say…
It isn’t more money.
It isn’t applause.
It isn’t finally being understood.
It’s this:
To feel close to Jesus. If I could have taught my children better or been a better more understanding spouse. If I could have set up better work boundaries, been more understanding
and less angry and judgmental.
Where does pressing in to be closer to Jesus come in to play?
Not doctrinally.
Not historically.
But presently.
Where is the yearning now?
Where is the affection for Christ as a Person?
Not just the hope of heaven — but fellowship today?
An old man who has walked with God through decades of storms begins to realize something: Joy is not postponed until glory. Isn’t that our decision to make here on earth?
The Father delights in giving joy Here and Now… in the middle of unfinished stories and aging bodies.
So let me ask you — man or woman — where are you with that joy?
Not joy because your circumstances are good. But joy because Christ is near.
How far off are you from the intimacy you once had? Or maybe never cultivated?
What would it take for you to return or to find that place for the first time?
To soften?
To hunger again?
An older saint begins to see that happiness is not found in controlling outcomes …
but in surrendering them.
He begins to treasure mornings with the Word more than business wins.
He values quiet prayer more than loud opinions.
He becomes slower to argue and quicker to bless.
Why?
Because time has refined him. Sanctification has shaped him. The Holy Spirit has worn down his sharp edges and deepened his wells.
He is not the man he was ten years ago…twenty years ago.
Thank God. Right?
So what is he looking forward to?
Not just streets of gold … but deeper communion.
Not just escaping pain … but finishing faithful.
He longs to:
- Leave a fragrance of Christ in his home.
- Impart wisdom without arrogance.
- Speak blessing over children and grandchildren.
- Model repentance, not perfection.
- Show that a man can grow softer without growing weaker.
He wants those he loves to say, “He walked with God at the end.” That makes an old man happy. It should make any person happy.
He wants to finish without regret choking his final breath.
He wants to look back and say, “I did not waste my last chapter.”
And what wisdom does he want to impart? Not just practical advice from 20 years ago.
But this:
Stay tender toward Jesus.
Guard your heart early.
Choose friends who pull you toward God.
Forgive faster.
Hold things loosely.
Pursue Christ sooner than I did.
And here is the quiet truth older men rarely say out loud: What makes them happiest is not being admired. It’s knowing the people they love are walking with Christ.
That brings a deep, settled joy. So how do you make your young man or your old man happy?
Let him see you hunger for Jesus.
Let him see you take eternity seriously.
Let him know his life pointed somewhere eternal.
And if you are that older man? What would you say to the those younger than you as you come to the deeper realization we are speaking of today.
How about, lean in now.
Don’t drift in your final decades.
Don’t waste your seasons.
Don’t coast spiritually.
Press in.
Yearn for Him as a Person.
Talk to Him like He is near … because He is.
Ask Him to finish what He started in you.
Then pass it on. Give yourself away to others!
The greatest joy of an aging saint is not that heaven is closer. It’s that Christ is nearer than ever.
And when the final years come — whether ten or forty — May it be said of you:
He grew more radiant, not more bitter.
More grateful, not more critical.
He wanted to give away the wisdom to those around him.
Yes, to be more eternally minded, yet more present.
That is how an old man becomes truly happy.
Not because the end is coming.
But because Jesus is.
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I host an Online Discovering Jesus class again on Tuesday night through March 17th
at 7pm – 8:30 ONLINE for people of all ages. Here is your link to join us on Tuesday.
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Great are you Lord. Its your breathe in our lungs
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