Four Keys to Personal Renewal : Refired Not Retired

Hi, dear friends, it’s Reen again and we’ll be discussing renewal in retirement. Retirement has been a growing trend globally since the 1920s, but the Bible does not mention it. So, based on the priority retirement has taken in our world, it would beg the questions, “Does our usefulness to God cease at age 65?” and “Are we released from our calling to minister to others?”

HMMM…I know this may wrinkle quite a few feathers, but while retirement is a good thing, retiring from serving God’s Kingdom is not. We can’t forsake our mandate as Christians to participate in God’s plan of eternal renewal.

When I think of someone in the Bible who worked hard long into “retirement age” I think of Caleb. In Joshua 14:11-12  he asks for the toughest assignment, “I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me…so now give me this hill country.” This was the toughest assignment because the giants of Anakim lived here and these are the same giants that scared Israel back into the desert for 40 years!

Fern and Dan are two people I know who embody biblical retirement. Married to different spouses, they both exemplify how the blessing of financial freedom allows us to enjoy retirement while still ministering to others. Fern uses her career skills of managing cafeterias to help run her church’s food pantry outreach to the community. She also has developed her love for watercolor painting into a phenomenal ministry of coaching others to enjoy the passion of art.

Dan is a retired former Physician’s Assistant who is pursuing work with the Navigators First Responders Ministry to use his passion for Christ and background in medicine to minister to first responders.

So, if you are retired, you can now live a refreshed retired life and find your fit in ministry for this new season in life. God has uniquely equipped you with skills, spiritual gifts, life experiences, talents, and passions that extend far beyond your years in the workforce. So, in your “Golden Years” you can bear eternally significant fruit and not simply exist until God calls you home.

 If you are still breathing, God has a purpose for you—but you must seek it out and become engaged!