All right , friends . Today , what does retirement look like for the Christian ? It doesn't Tell us , ray . Why doesn't ?
Speaker 2it . There shouldn't be any thought of retirement for the Christian . For the world , yeah , retire , just go over and die somewhere , walk your dog around the block . But for the Christian , you can go full-time for the Lord now . All your life you've been restricted by work . Work's a curse . God gave work as a curse . It makes you sweat . You can be free of that and now you can serve the Lord with all your heart , full-time , and all you do is get a diary and when you go witnessing with your dog wearing sunglasses going around the block , get a person's name and write down what you said to them and pray for them afterwards .
Speaker 1There what you said to them and pray with them or pray for them afterwards . There's things you can do where retirement won't come near you , and it shouldn't . Okay now , oscar , is there a place for a Christian to retire ? Now , we've already dealt with this Not , but not really retire . So maybe we can break down the difference in perspective on what the world's talking about for retirement .
Speaker 3Yeah , I think what you're getting at here is is the retiring from vocation is one thing which is moving into a new season of life , and to clarify what Ray meant earlier , I know he meant this is the work is a gift from the Lord to us . We see Adam work in the garden After the fall . After the fall , it becomes cursed , right . So Adam had God glorifying work . We are made
to make in the same way that our maker makes . That's not a part of the curse . Part of the curse is that then , attached to that is the thistles and the thorns , and if you work in a vocation , that is hard , that's a struggle . You feel the thistle , you feel the thorn . One of the beautiful things about retiring from your vocation , though , if that is in fact you is , now look at it as you get to experience work with less of the thorn , with less of the thistle , because now you're free to work unto the Lord , not just to provide for your family and to check in on a nine to five , but now you know the day you go home after your retirement party . It's like what do you have for me , oh Lord ? And I thought about it in four different ways .
Speaker 3Ultimately , retirement , you get to steward four different things . It's time for you to steward your time well , because you have more time than ever . It's time for you to steward your talent well . God has gifted you and you have an opportunity to steward that talent in a new way because you're not being held back from the responsibility of your nine-to-five . You have an opportunity to steward your treasure Well . In retirement age we have more excess income than we had through all of our working years , and so you have an opportunity to give , to steward that treasure in an incredible way . And you have an opportunity to steward your testimony well . You've gone through so many seasons of life . Why not invest that in to the next generation ? And so , when you have that perspective , you retire from your revocation . But now you get to experience work with less thorn and less thistles , because you work into the Lord .
Speaker 1I love it . Often , when you hear people who retire , you'll hear some of them say they'll go back to get another job and they'll say what I needed ? Something to do which is indicative of right . We're designed to
like , create , to do , to be productive , productivity . But I'm baffled that the Christian would ever have to say that we have so much to do .
Speaker 2I think someone who spends their life busy and then suddenly they retire . They're going to feel absolutely useless , just cast on a trash heap . And that's tragic when you've been laboring your whole life . But now , if you're a Christian , you can be a laborer for the Lord .
Speaker 2And I think the key to being retired and keeping your brain and not becoming depressed and feeling useless is to be disciplined . Absolutely , Just say I'm going to be disciplined . I'm going to start the day off with prayer . I'm going to read the Word , Then I'm going to go to my fishing spot each day and look for a sinner . I'm going to get a dog , put sunglasses , go around the block . I'm going to take gospel tracts , give them out . I'm going to get a table and get a local Walmart and you can get permission to do this .
Speaker 2Set up a table outside Walmart and just put free Christian books on it that people can take , evangelistic books , get them from Living in Waters , the scientific facts in the Bible , and they're totally free . And you just spend two hours in the morning doing that . You come back , have a snooze , say God , please give me more energy , because that's the problem when you get your 70s Every day . So and I pray for wisdom and for energy , because energy is life and without that you're just going to roll over and die . And so if you're disciplined and make sure you do this each day , life's going to have meaning because you're tapping into the eternal .
Speaker 4Yeah , paul didn't coast into glory . He saw it as a finish line , right , he picked up the pace . I often tell my kids , and I write it in almost every birthday card to my kids pick up the pace , right , I get it . Life is , for a lot of us , a marathon , I get it . Life is , for a lot of us ,
a marathon , and slow and steady wins the race . But just pick up the pace . Have you ever seen the difference between somebody who finishes first at a track meet and somebody who finishes sixth ? If somebody finishes first , there's always that lunge right .
Speaker 4The difference between first and second you know first , second , everybody knows your name .
Speaker 2I love that , seinfeld , that's so .
Speaker 4Somebody finishes sixth place , though it's almost like they're coasting . There's no urgency . But for us Christians , we never retire from the Great Commission . We never retire from doing what God has called us to do . For 2 Timothy 4-7 , I have fought the good fight . I have kept the faith right . You will still be in the race until you see His face . You'll know when God is done with you . Right , you die . You're done .
Speaker 4So God is not done with you . No matter what you've done , no matter who's made your bed , no matter what drug you've done , no matter how many people's lives you've wrecked , god's not done with you . And we know that he's not done with you because you are still alive , and by virtue of the fact that you're still alive means that God still has a plan that he wants for you . So get out of bed . Go to bed with purpose . Lay out your clothes before you go to bed so that you know exactly what you're doing . Lay out your schedule in advance so you wake up in the morning with a purpose Today I'm doing this , tomorrow I'm doing that . And therefore , when you end up doing something like that , you're going to find just this exuberant joy that comes upon you because you're doing what the Lord has you to do .
Speaker 1We talked about stewardship in terms of money . Right , god owns our money . God owns our time too , doing what the Lord has you to do . We talked about stewardship in terms of money . Right , god owns our money , but God owns our time too , and you have to understand
that . You have to look at your time and say what am I doing with it ?
Speaker 1The Christian who loves the Lord , when he thinks of retirement , says Lord , how can I redeem that time ? And that's biblical right . See , then , ephesians 5 , 15 to 16 , that you walk circumspectly , not as fools , but as wise , redeeming the time right . See , then , ephesians 5 , 15 to 16 , that you walk circumspectly , not as fools , but as wise , redeeming the time right . That means buy it up , take it and redeem it so that you can then use it for what really matters . So , friends , I hope that you've been encouraged today to recognize that if you live to that stage of life where you're able to disconnect from your normal vocation , there is so much to do . People are sitting in hospital beds , lonely , dying . There are kids that are in different institutions because they don't have parents , that need big brothers and big sisters . There are lost people all around your neighborhood .
Speaker 2And there are people coming out of Walmart and you could have your table there with Christian books on it .
Speaker 1Yeah get a dog , get it some sunglasses . Get a hole in your beard , it's the cover of his book man , I'm like , yeah , right , but who said it ? Do something
, do something , do something .
Speaker 2That was Spurgeon . Spurgeon , societies and unions are making constitutions . Let us win soul , yeah .
Speaker 1Thank you for tuning in to this week's highlights from the Living Waters podcast . Friends , we value your time , so we've created a bite-sized version of our podcast for listeners who want to get equipped . Without the jokes and fellowship . Be sure to check out the full episode every Thursday where we dive deeper into the topic . Until then , you can watch the full podcast episode available now on livingwaterstv .