Why We Long to Stay Young

Centuries ago, Juan Ponce de León set out in search of a fountain that could restore youth. Whether legend or history, the story stuck because it captured something we still search for today. We see this longing in movies like Tuck Everlasting and The Age of Adaline. And in our everyday lives, the quest for youthfulness hasn’t stopped. The anti-aging industry promises to smooth, erase, and reverse the evidence of time.

What is it about aging that we’re so desperate to escape? The answer to this dilemma comes from Genesis 1. Our discomfort with aging reflects the way God originally designed us to live. 

God fashioned the first image-bearers, blessed them, and placed them in the garden of Eden (Genesis 1:26-27). As they fulfilled the command to be fruitful and multiply, the earth would be filled with God’s image-bearers who would glorify him. They had access to many trees in the garden, including the tree of life. This tree was a symbol of God’s abundant provision and life-giving power. They would flourish and continue to experience divine blessing and unending life.

Everything was very good (Genesis 1:31). This is how things were meant to be. Sickness and death did not exist. But this perfect paradise did not last long. 

Adam and Eve decided that what God had given them wasn’t enough. They wanted more and took what was forbidden. In exchange, they lost what they needed most. They no longer experienced intimacy with God or each other. They hid in shame and pointed fingers in blame. A moment of sweet satisfaction led to perpetual pain.  

God showed mercy. Rather than allow his image-bearers to endure unending lives with pain and suffering, he blocked access to the tree of life. Their bodies and minds would decay. Death would overshadow their lives.

Because their sin affected all of us, we are all subjected to the curse of death (Romans 5:12). So we spend our lives searching for ways to hide the evidence of the curse. We resist aging because we were created to live forever in unbroken intimacy with God. 

We won’t find eternal youth from a fountain. Buying another cream or having surgery won’t erase the echoes of the rebellion in the garden. We can’t reverse the curse.  

But someone did.

O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
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The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, 
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:55-57
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In Christ, we have victory over sin and death. He willingly suffered undeserved punishment and gave his life so that we could have eternal life. When we trust in Him, we are once again restored to a relationship with our creator. 
We still live in the shadow of the curse, though. Joints grow stiff. Wrinkles and gray hair appear.  (Ecclesiastes 12:1-5). But as we struggle with the effects of sin, they remind us that there is something better to come. As believers, we will once again dwell in a paradise on earth. Sickness, death, tears, and pain will be gone. 
We don’t need to look for an imaginary fountain of youth, because soon we will eat from the tree of life (Revelation 22:1-2).  
Our longing to stay young points us to the life we were created to have in Christ.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Revelation 22:1-4