What does it mean to age wisely in a culture obsessed with staying young?
Jen Wilkin joins Nick Cady to discuss her book, Dust to Dust: Aging Wisely in an Anti-Aging World, and the radically different stories that culture and Scripture tell about growing older.
Jen explains the book’s central image: the human lifespan forms a kind of chiasm. Birth corresponds to death, childhood dependence anticipates the dependence of our final years, and caring for children corresponds to caring for aging parents—with midlife serving as the place of perspective.
In this conversation, Nick and Jen discuss:
- Why aging itself is part of God’s original design—not merely a consequence of the Fall
- How our bodies can decline while we continue to develop as people
- Why midlife often brings disorientation and reexamination
- How Western culture’s ideal of independence shapes our fear of aging
- Why older believers are indispensable to the church
- How churches can cultivate meaningful friendships across generations
- What it means to number our days and use our limited time wisely
- The difference between Bible literacy and Bible fluency
Jen also reflects on unexpectedly needing a wheelchair when her book about aging was released—and what disability can teach us about dependence, dignity, and preparing to grow old faithfully.
Jen Wilkin is an author and Bible teacher whose work emphasizes Bible literacy and theological formation.
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