how important age is.... and isn't

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Numbers 4:1-5:31. God tells Moses that the men in the tribe of Levi who are to work in the tabernacle must be between 30 and 50 years old.

If you ask anyone over the age of 18 how important age is, they'll tell you that it's VERY important when it comes to dating. If you date someone under 18 when you're over 18, you could go to jail.

These days it's a common viewpoint to think that we have extended childhood... or even CREATED childhood... when it didn't exist before. And perhaps there's some truth to that. But we see in this passage from Numbers that men weren't considered adults ready for the responsibility of the tabernacle until they were 30. That's pretty old even by today's standards. It brings to mind the age limit of 35 for presidents of our country.

In what way is age just a number? Well, some people equate age with maturity. And while it IS important to remember that older people have had more opportunity to mature than young people, anyone who has met more than 100 people know that this isn't always the case. There are some people who are more mature at ten years old than other people when they're 110. Just because you're young doesn't mean you're immature (don't let them despise you because of your age! the Bible says), and just because you've lived a long time doesn't mean you've learned anything along the way. I know many people who have alot of years under their belt, but you wouldn't be able to tell that by the way they treat people.

So yes, age is important in one sense. But in another, it's just a relatively arbitrary number that may, when all is said and done, be meaningless.

God, thanks for teaching us the importance.... and lack thereof.... of age.