Re-Thinking Retirement

Re-Thinking Retirement

For the past eleven years I have worked in the financial industry helping people to plan for their financial goals. Most commonly I find people who wish to plan for retirement. For some, they wish to retire when their Social Security payments begin. Others want to retire earlier. I even have some clients who have no desire to retire at all, but truly love what they do. More often than not, I find individuals who now do not just want to retire from something; they wish to retire to something. They retire from their 9 to 5 job and pursue their passions. It is amazing how so many of us put off the pursuit of our passions until we feel as though we have enough money to sustain our lifestyle. I challenge you to think differently.

I can only find one example in scripture that speaks of retirement. “And this the Lord spake unto Moses saying , ‘This is it that belongeth to the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof and shall serve no more.’ ” (Numbers 8:24-25 KJV). God gave the Levites twenty five years to serve in a specific capacity in the temple and then to slow down their duties. They didn’t stop working altogether, but ceased from the hard labor. To be a Levitical priest was their calling and God gave them instructions for their rest.

God has always intended for us to have work. In Genesis 2:15 God gives Adam work to do. He never says that there was a time when his work would cease. After Adam and Eve fell out of relationship with God, work became hard, laborious and un-purposeful. God says to Adam after the fall, “In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground: for out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Genesis 3:19 KJV). This type of labor also would never cease. However, Jesus came to put us back in relationship with God, and breaking the curse of this type of labor. If we choose to continue to work under these conditions, it is not because God intends for it to be so. It does not mean that you will always make a lot of money or even that you will have a prestigious position. It does mean that the work you are called and anointed to do will be purposeful and provision made. From that you will never retire. And that type of work does not have to wait for Social Security. You can begin a purposeful working existence at any time by trusting God to order your steps and give your life purpose and meaning in whatever you do. “Whatever you do, do your work heartily; as for the Lord rather than for men . . . it is the Lord Christ whom you serve” (Colossians 3:23-24 NASB).

So many people found out in the last stock market crash that their retirement plans had to change. I have even had to deliver bad news to clients who were counting on having a certain amount of money available in order for them to retire and begin to do what they have always dreamed. Yet it is God who gives us these desires in the first place. God does not need to wait for your Social Security Income to begin. God is able to provide whatever is necessary for you to move out into the work HE called you to do. Why do we trust more in our 401(k) than we do our God? We have already seen that the stock market cannot be trusted exclusively for our retirement. We must stop putting off serving God until we have created what we feel is a comfortable financial cushion. In whom do you trust? The financial system, or Jehovah Jireh? We choose to continue to work at jobs we despise, in the hopes of a day when our money will save us. However, I would introduce you to another Savior. His name is Jesus. And he has already paid the price that you would have had to pay to live a life of liberty. The choice is yours. Trust God for your work and your rest. He has proven time and again not to disappoint. Retire from the curse today. Trust God for tomorrow.