Retire To What?
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles
Since turning sixty years of age a few years back, I’ve had people in the workplace ask me from time to time “when” I was going to retire. Then I’ve had folks ask me “why” I was still working? (they thought I had retired years ago!). Then I tell them the story that back in 1996, 550 employees (including myself) were laid off from a major gas pipeline company, where I was within twelve days of being able to retire at 52 years of age with the company bridging me to 55.
Since then, I’ve been employed by one of our local school districts now for eleven years; two years full time and nine years part time. To tell you the truth, with all of my late wife’s medical bills that have accumulated over past years, I simply will never be able to retire. And that’s a good thing!
Why is it a good thing, you ask? Because I’m still greatly blessed by the God of heaven; I still have relatively good health, a roof over my head and three square meals a day. If you read any kind of news at all, you quickly realize that there is virtually over one billion poverty-stricken people in our world who don’t have any of these God-provided blessings. So I am indeed thankful for His daily provision (Matthew 6:24-34).
Even if I hadn’t of experienced any of the above listed problems and could have retired, “what” would I have retired to? I had a good friend who worked for the same gas pipeline company who got the privilege to retire at fifty-five. Sadly, he didn’t have anything to replace his full-time work at the gas company; he had no purpose or goal for living, and thus died six years later in his sleep while watching television at a relatively young sixty-one years of age.
What’s the point to all of the above stories, you ask? Never retire! If we’re a faithful Christian, we immediately realize that the God with whom we daily serve doesn’t have a retirement plan! (1 Corinthians 3:9-15; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58) — not even in heaven (Revelation 7:13-15; Revelation 22:3). We’re to faithfully serve Him and our fellow man up to the very second that our heart quits beating (Ecclesiastes 12:1-7; cf. Job 7:1-10; Job 16:16-22; cf. Ecclesiastes 9:10).
Brethren and friends, this great blessing gives us a purpose and reason to get up out of bed every morning, thankfully and joyfully serving Him and our fellow man (Psalm 118:24).
Retire? Retire to what? Retire to an early grave, with no purpose for living? Thankfully, God doesn’t want that end for us. He wants us to continually be a blessing to others until He is ready to call us home (Matthew 5:14-16; 2 Timothy 4:1-8; cf. Philippians 2:12-18).
What an awesome God that we serve!