Sunday night, Sharon went to Cypress Valley Bible Church with Mike and Letitia Lii for the Lord’s Supper meeting. Afterward, she enjoyed visiting with many people. One couple told her that they were sorry I was going to retire soon. Sharon expressed surprise and told them I had no plans to retire soon.

The confusion comes from a blog I wrote recently, indicating that the GES Board has succession plans in case I die, become disabled, or retire. I indicated that I plan to work full-time for several more years and possibly go part-time.

I’m not planning on retiring soon. I just turned seventy-two. I might be like Fauci, Biden, Trump, Pelosi, Swindoll, MacArthur, and Stanley. I might work full-time for another decade or more. On March 30, I completed my eleventh marathon. I’m in excellent health.

But you never know. My Dad died at seventy-three of cancer. Of course, that was probably brought on by a lifetime of smoking. But who knows? In the only Psalm written by Moses, he said, “Teach us to number our days” (Ps 90:12). Two verses earlier, he famously wrote, “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Ps 90:10). Moses was not setting hard and fast limits on lifespans. After all, he lived to be 120 and Joshua to 110. His point is that sin has resulted in short lifespans for people. Our lives are “soon cut off.”

Do you plan to retire? I don’t. If the Lord gives me many more healthy years, I probably will go to half-time at some point. I could be like Drs. John Walvoord, John Mitchell, and J. Dwight Pentecost. They continued to work part-time well into their nineties. Chuck Swindoll is eighty-nine, and in March, he and the church announced that he is stepping down as Senior Pastor. But he is not retiring. See this article.

The Bible does not mention retirement. Well, it does once. But there the issue is not retiring from working. It is retiring from the specific work of Levites in the Temple. They could not start such work until age twenty-five, and they had to stop at fifty (Num 8:25). They were permitted to continue working in the Temple by assisting the younger men in their work (Num 8:26). Of course, Levites had farms and other work they did as well. That work continued after age fifty.

In an online article (see here), Roger Barrier suggests that the Biblical model for retirement, except in cases of disability, is death. We work until we die. He pointed out that sixty-five is an arbitrary age: “Germany was setting up a Social Security-type program in the late 1800s. Kaiser Wilhelm said, ‘Let’s set the qualification age at 65. No one lives that long.’” The U.S. passed the Social Security Act in 1935 with the same thinking. In 1935, the life expectancy was sixty-one for men and sixty-five for women. Today, the life expectancy is seventy-four for men and eighty for women.

If we were setting up Social Security today, it would start at age seventy-five or even eighty.

The NT makes provision for churches to provide for widows (Acts 6:1; 1 Tim 5:3-11), but not widowers.ⁱ

Proverbs and other wisdom literature teach that we should store up income while we are able so that when hard times come or we can’t work as much, we have resources (Gen 41:35; Prov 6:6-11; 13:22).

Paul said, “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thess 3:10). He spoke of able-bodied menⁱⁱ who were not working, mooching off other believers, presumably because they were convinced the Rapture would occur any day now. Paul didn’t make provision for men in their seventies who could work but would not.

More and more people in America are unable to retire. Although their company regulations may force them to retire, they find another job and keep working.

Maybe you saved up enough money that you likely won’t need any additional income for the rest of your life.ⁱⁱⁱ In that case, you might choose to go into full-time ministry. Or part-time ministry. Paid or unpaid. Why spend your days on cruises, beaches, and resorts? Would you be fulfilled spending all your time vacationing? Vacations can be fun. But we were not created to vacation for the rest of our lives. We are here to serve Him and lay up treasure in heaven (Matt 6:19-21).

Maximize your life for Christ. That’s my aim. I will work full-time as long as my mind and body allow. Then I’ll work part-time as long as I can.

What about you?

Keep grace in focus.

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i. While the Bible does not specifically mention care for those who can’t work, it is certainly implied (e.g., Gal 6:10). See this article. But if a widower could work, he would be expected to do so.

ii. In the first century, men worked outside the home, and women were mothers and homemakers. The women might conduct business (Proverbs 31), but most families were essentially single-income. In America until the late 1960s, one-income families were the rule. In 1968, dual-income families equaled single-income families for the first time in the U.S.

iii. Of course, no matter how much money you’ve stored up, you can’t be sure it will last. There can be revolutions, stock market crashes, thefts, natural disasters, major illnesses, and other things that take away our savings.