Retire: July 29, 2010

Today's Word for Thursday July 29, 2010

RETIRE

DEFINITION

Draw back; retreat; withdraw from business or public life; make inactive; relieve of duty.

SCRIPTURE

"They may minister with their brethren - to attend to needs." Numbers 8:26

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

You can see if you read our life history at the end of these devotionals that we are at the age of so called retirement. Quite often now we are asked the question: "When are you going to retire?" We never pause a moment and always respond the same way: "We never plan to retire."

The word "retirement" has never been in our vocabulary and let us share with you the reason why. When we accepted Jesus as our Savior we made a commitment to serve Him until we died. We have never been able to find any reference in the scriptures that lead us to believe that we should retire at age 60, 65, 70, or 75.

But we must explain and we will do that in the words that follow but first let us share with you the true story of the first people that climbed to the top of Mt. Everest, the world's highest mountain. They were Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Hillary was only 33 years of age and had accomplished his life goal. His feat had given him fame and wealth and he had already lived a remarkable life. He had no higher mountains to climb so in a sense he could "retire."

Although retired from mountain climbing he didn't sit back and do nothing. He kept on working but with a different purpose. For the next 55 years Hillary put all of his efforts into improving the life styles and welfare of the Nepalese people living near Mt. Everest.

In Numbers 8:25, God through Moses told the Levites to retire from their regular duties at the age of 50. Although God retired the older Levites from doing the heavy work of moving the Tabernacle as the Israelites made their way to the Promised Land, He did not want them to stop helping others. God said that they should "minister with their brethren in the Tabernacle" and assist them in performing the duties of the Tabernacle.

This is a wonderful example for us to share with you. We believe that when one comes to the point in their life that they can retire and retire with the means to live the rest of their life then that is a blessing that one receives from God. Just because we may be retired, God does not want us to quit. God expects us to keep on serving Him and that is work. So many people retire and find out that they have nothing to do so they sit and just seem to waste away. It is far better to do as the Levites and Sir Edmund Hillary did, and focus when we retire, on giving our time to help others.

Paul advises us in Galatians 6:9-10, to not to become weary in doing good and use every opportunity to do good onto others. We are never too old to reap a harvest if we never give up.

Let us assure you that life takes on a whole new meaning when we invest all of our time and effort in representing our Lord and in helping others.

LEARNING

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 3:3.

Jesus answered and said unto him, "Most assuredly I say unto you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

PRAYER

I pray that You will give me the strength and help that I need to serve You today. Help me to serve others with a heart of love and a concern for their well being.