Not Growing Old

2 Corinthians 4:16 For which cause we faint not;
but though our outward man perish, yet the
inward man is renewed day by day.

They say that I am growing old.
I've heard them tell it times untold,
In language plain and bold -
But I am not growing old.

This frail old shell in which I dwell
Is growing old, I know full well -
But I am not the shell.

What if my hairs are turning gray?
Gray hairs are honorable, they say.
What if my eyesight's growing dim?
I still can see to follow Him
Who sacrificed His life for me
Upon the cross of Calvary.

What should I care if time's old plow
Has left his furrows on my brow?
Another house, not made with hands,
Awaits me in the Glory Land.

What though I falter in my walk?
What though my tongue refuse to talk?
I still can tread the Narrow Way,
I still can watch, and praise and pray.

My hearing may not be as keen
As in the past it may have been;
Still I can hear my Saviour say
In whisper soft, "This is the way."

The outward man, do what I can
To lengthen out this life's short span,
Shall perish and return to dust,
As everything in nature must.

The inward man, the Scriptures say,
Is growing stronger every day.
Then how can I be growing old
When safe within my Saviour's fold?

E'er long my soul shall fly away,
And leave this tenement of clay.
This robe of flesh I'll drop and rise
To seize the "everlasting prize."
I'll meet you on the streets of gold,
And prove that I'm not growing old.

John E. Roberts