While I applaud the fact that there is a great emphasis in many circles on reaching the next generation, we often forget that God also has a plan to use older seasoned leaders as well.
For example, when Abraham was ninety-nine years old God still called him to walk before Him blamelessly and to believe for a son from his own loins (Gen ch17). Moses was eighty years old when God called Him to deliver the Jews from Egypt (Exodus 3; Acts 7). Caleb was eighty when he desired to take his own mountain (Joshua 14:12). Paul the apostle still craved the word of God for study and admonished the church even when he was in his sixties and about to die for his faith (2 Tim 3,4). The apostle John was probably ninety plus years old when he received the Revelation of Jesus Christ on the Isle of Patmos (Rev ch1).
Retirement from the service of God is not biblical. It is important to understand that some of the greatest things we will ever do for God will take place in our latter years. This comes against the mindset of the AMERICAN culture in which people work forty years so they can relax the rest of their life and live off their retirement monies. I have often found that men do not live long after their retirement if they have no sense of purpose. Even in the church, many believers desire to take it easy and fall away from their purpose once they hit their senior years.
The following are 16 contrasts between retirement and a re-firing mindset
1. Retirement mindset looks forward to rest / re-firing mindset looks forward to completing their conquest.
2. Retirement looks forward to a life of ease / re-firing mindset looks forward to a life of empowering others.
3. Retirement looks back on the past for fulfillment / re-firing mindset looks to the future to bring greater glory to God.
4. A Retirement mindset wants to slow down / a re-firing mindset wants to accelerate their assignment.
5. A retirement mindset gives up on releasing their potential / a re-firing mindset focuses on fulfilling their potential.
6. A retirement mindset says that their best years of productivity has passed / a re-firing mindset says the best is yet to come.
7. A retirement mindset lets the youth face their giants alone / a re- firing mindset slays the giants awaiting younger leaders.
8. A retirement mentality lives in natural strength / a re-firing mindset believes God for supernatural ability.
9. A retirement mindset leaves many spiritual orphans in their path / a re-firing mindset nurtures many spiritual sons in their calling.
10. A retirement mindset is self-focused / a re-firing mindset is self-giving.
11. A retirement mindset accomplishes little for the Kingdom / a re-firing mindset accomplishes much in the Kingdom.
12. A retirement mindset builds their latter years on wood, hay and stubble / a re-firing mindset builds their latter years on gold, silver and precious metals (1 Cor.3:10-15).
13. A retirement mindset barely makes it through the fires (1 Cor.3:15) / a re-firing mindset abides with Him in the fire (Isaiah 33:14-15.)
14. A retirement mindset seeks to please themselves until their end / a re-firing mindset seeks to please God until their end.
15. A retirement mindset is not something we should seek to attain even if we retire from one job we should re-fire for the next assignment God has for us.
16. Finally, A retirement mindset goes from glory to mediocre / a re-firing mindset goes from Glory to Glory and Strength to Strength.
At the very end of our earthly sojourn, may we be able to say like the apostle Paul “the time has come for my departure. “7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day -and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Tim.4:6-8). {eoa}
This article originally appeared at josephmattera.org.
