TODAYS WORD FOR WEDNESDAY
FEBRUARY 6, 2013.
RETIRE
DEFINITION:
Withdraw from an occupation or
career because of age; make inactive; relieve of duty.
SCRIPTURE:
And from the age of fifty years
they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more. Numbers
8:25 (ESV)
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. For us, it blesses us in our
retirement years to have that time in our lives to use in serving the Lord.
LEARNING:
Our memory verse for this week
is found in Psalms 100:4.
Enter into His gates with
thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless
His name.
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.
