"Behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23).

The famous Jewish leader, Moses, said this to a people who wanted an inheritance among the people of God. Moses assured them that obedience to God would bring them blessing, but failure to honor God was sin -- sin that would hound them until their dying day.

A recent article on the aging baby boomer generation reminded me of the above Bible admonition. The gist of the article was that many baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) will face old-age alone. They will enter old age during the next 30 years with few or no family members to take care of them. The article especially struck me because I am part of that generation.

The article called caring for the next generation "the single most devastating social, economic, and spiritual sinkhole of the early decades of the 21st century." The cost and the burden could be devastating to our economy.

The cause of the looming crisis in eldercare is largely a result of the lifestyle of the baby boomers. They went all out in the pursuit of material prosperity and pleasure seeking. They postponed having children, had fewer children, or no children at all. Many boomers are divorced and remarried or not living with a spouse at all. Increasingly their families are fragmented. Many of them had abortions rather than assuming their God-given responsibility of raising these children. Many of the surviving children of baby boomers are ignoring their parents in the mad pursuit of wealth and pleasure, following their own parents' examples. Many have chosen divorce, cohabitation, remarrying and creating stepfamilies. This has continued to weaken the ties between generations.

As the baby boomers retire and need more care, many will have to face their elder years alone. Boomers and government agencies are trying to make plans to provide for eldercare, but all the planning in the world won't take care of the loneliness and depression of the rising older generation. Many boomers have lost their spiritual moorings and face old age and death depressed and unsure of their eternal destinies.

If you belong to the boomer generation and have not honored God heretofore, what can you do to prepare for the future? You cannot go back and live your life over, focusing on God's will and family values. However, you can still turn your life over to God, who will give you purpose in life and a reason for living the rest of your days. You will need to repent of your sins, including selfishness which lies at the root of the boomers' problems. You need to become involved in a Biblical church family who can also give you support and encouragement. You will want to point out to the oncoming generation the vanity found in the pursuit of selfism and pleasure.

The Bible is our only source of hope for the future, including old age and death. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Ezekiel 18:21).

If you are of the boomer generation, and you have been living for the Lord, you have a great responsibility. You can be a living demonstration of what most boomers lost. Your demonstration of the power and love of God can yet lead some of them to repentance. In turn, helping your generation to return to God will give you added purpose in life.