In part 1 we looked at the retirement that is mentioned in the Bible and also the idea of rest that the Bible is flooded with. Now let’s look at retirement defined and re-defined.

Definition of Retirement

Merriam Webster defines retirement as:

withdrawal from one’s position or occupation or from active working life.

Unfortunately many people often think and define retirement as quitting work altogether and not doing anything. 

As if retirement consists of sitting on the couch and mumbling (Christian) expletives at Drew Carey for ruining The Price is Right! 

3 retirement types

There’s basically three retirement types if we boil it down to the basics. 

1. My Timers - ”Retirement is my time!”, you’ll hear them say.  They do what they want, when they want and who they want to do it with!  They think of retirement as a time to finally live for themselves.
2. No Timers – “I’ve got no time to do anything because I’m so busy”, is the creed they live by.  They fill their schedules with all kinds of errands, busyness and other things that eat away their time.
3. Give Timers – “How can I help, where can I volunteer” are questions they always ask.  They view retirement as an opportunity to serve others.

You can see the differences among these three types.  The first two are selfish with their time, energy and resources and think that retirement is all about their enjoyment.

The last one “get’s it” from a Biblical perspective that their time, talents, energy and resources are a gift from God that should be used to serve and bless others.

Here’s what is ironic about the Give Timers - living that way is about their enjoyment – they enjoy being a blessing to others.

I think the Bible is pretty clear that we are called to serve others and to love them as ourselves and that includes during retirement.  In fact I would say – especially in retirement because we don’t have employment constraints to work around.

Redefining Retirement

 Perhaps it’s time to rethink and redefine exactly what retirement is from a Christian perspective.

Instead of us thinking, “I can’t wait to retire so I can relax or play a million rounds of golf with my buddies, or buy that winter home I’ve always wanted” - we should think about community outreach, church ministry, volunteering at non-profit organizations and missions trips. 

Are golf, relaxing or winter homes evil in and of themselves?  No!  By all means – enjoy them.  What I’m trying to suggest is that we don’t view those as the prize! 

Jesus is the prize! 

I want you to see that retirement frees up time for endless possibilities for the kingdom of God! 

What Does This Mean for You?

If you’re holding on to your retirement dreams and goals as an idol - this means you probably need to have a heart-to-heart with God and ask Him to reveal what you need to let go of.

It’s not wrong to desire retirement enjoyment and do things you’ve always wanted to do.  But, this may mean you need to re-evaluate your motivations. 

In my opinion, what we often fail to realize is there will be rewards in heaven for what we do here on earth, which are designed to maximize our joy both here and especially there!

Let’s blaze a new trail - one that redeems retirement!

Should Christians pursue retirement as one of their major goals - or in doing so, are they pursuing something that is in complete contrast to what God has purposed for them?

I think this is a good question to ask, and one that I’ve often wrestled with.

As Americans, we generally want to work for 30 to 40 years, retire with a nice nest egg and spend the rest of our time doing things we really want to do, when we want to do them.

Retirement has become the quintessential American Dream.

But is this something that a Christian should pursue – and does the Bible have anything to say about it?

Retirement in the Bible

After a quick search for the word “retire” in a few different versions of the Bible – I noticed there weren’t many references to view. 

Of those that were listed, all but one had to do with either retiring to bed (going to sleep) or retiring from battle (retreating or pulling back). 

Numbers 8:23-26 was a passage that mentions retirement in terms of withdrawing from labor.  Here’s the passage:

23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. 25 And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more. 26 They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties.”

One of the responsibilities of the Levites was to transport and guard the tabernacle. 

So basically what’s going on here is that the Levites who were over age 50 were able to “retire” from carrying the tabernacle, but still served in guarding it.

As far as I know there is no other mention of retirement in the Bible – but does that mean we should throw out the notion of retirement just because it’s not in there?

Rest in the Bible

God’s word has a lot to say about the idea of rest. 

On the seventh day of creation, God rested from all His labor.  God instituted a day of rest in the 10 commandments, and we see Jesus resting and withdrawing from His work often to get refreshed.

But is this rest the same as retirement?  It doesn’t seem like it.  The Bible typically refers to rest as a temporary rest to get re-energized to go back to work. 

So once again, the Bible seems pretty silent on the issue of retirement.  I got to thinking about what a conversation about retirement would sound like between the Apostle Paul and Peter.  Maybe something like this:

Paul: “I’ve been making tents for the last 30 years – my back is just killin’ me – I gotta get out of this business.”

Peter: “Your back is killing you?  Try pulling a giant net of fish into a boat every day!  My dad had me helping him since I was 12 years old – 50 years of catching fish has caught up to me for sure.”

Paul: “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind taking my pension early and getting a nice little place on the Mediterranean.”

Peter: “I hear ya, Jerusalem for the summer and Greece for the winter would be the life!”

There’s no evidence a conversation like that ever took place.  In fact, I would be willing to guess that retirement to a guy like the Apostle Paul was something that never crossed his mind. 

He never wanted to be a burden to people so as to create any barriers to sharing the gospel. 

Should we take the Bible’s silence to mean:

a. Most people worked until they were physically unable to?

b. The Bible is not concerned about retirement?

Usually when the Bible is silent on a particular topic, it allows us to form our own opinion and conviction on the issue.

In part 2 we’ll further discuss the idea retirement in the Bible, look at the definition and re-defininition of retirement and what that means for us.