What does Retirement mean to you?

RETIREMENT OR RE-TIREMENT?

They walk amongst us. We see them in church every Sunday. They are seated on the benches in the shopping mall, chatting over coffee in the local coffee shop, or trundling about on their scooters. We call them the elderly or seniors, and for those few special ones, we call them grandma or grandpa!

They seem older and slower, and we discard their ideas as old-fashioned and not relevant to today. We even joke about ageing as if ageing is a curse! But before we put these wonderful older folk out to pasture because they are now ‘retired’, we should consider what the Bible says about growing old:

Proverbs 16:31 states, “Grey hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life”.

Job 12:12 declares, “Wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to the old”

Psalm 71:18-19 says,“Now that I am old and my hair is grey, don’t leave me, God. I must tell the next generation about Your power and greatness”

Proverbs 23:22 encourages us to, “Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.”

One of the most inspiring stories about older folk in the Bible is the story of Caleb found in Joshua 14:6-14. It is his response to the challenge to take the land of the giants in Hebron that grabs my heart, “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land…So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day!”

Reading this passage I realize that older folk should not retire but be re-tired, i.e., have a new set of tires put on for the next 10, 000kms! Old age is not a time to stop being involved but an opportunity to tap into the experiences and knowledge gained over a lifetime. As churches we should not be excluding these grey haired saints from continued service but empowering them to continue on in the building of His Kingdom.

Older folk make great mentors: Titus 2:3-5 and Psalm 71:18 hints at this powerful truth. Us younger generations are in need, now more than ever, of godly, mature, and wise older folk to come alongside us and encourage us forward.

Older folk make great prayer warriors: The years have taught them about dependency on the power and wisdom of God found through prayer. They understand the power and need for prayer! When my grandma passed away, she was was found seated in her chair with an open Bible on her lap and a list of her grandchildren whom she prayed for faithfully every day. She died praying for each of us, and each of us believe we were prayed into the Kingdom by that godly, grey-haired saint.

Older folk are symbols of loyalty and faithfulness: Statistics show today that most people will stay in a church for between 3-5 years. Many older folk have been in the same church their whole lives! They have seen hard times, anxious times, good times, and have stuck it out through thick and thin. They are perfectly placed to model ‘stickability’ to younger generations.

Those are not just wrinkles we are seeing; they are the battle scars born proudly by a person who has faced the toughest trials of life and has come through stronger, wiser, and better for it. Those wrinkles and grey hair remind us of faith, hope, and endurance.

So yes, they walk amongst us, but we should also make sure they walk with us. We are blessed to have them, and they have so much to teach us. So let’s respect them, let’s give them place to serve, let’s listen to them, let’s honour them, and most importantly let’s learn from them.

And for the older generation reading this, we love you. We need you to stick with us and endure our stubbornness. We need you to forgive us when we bypass you. We need you to stay strong, keep the faith, and not give up. The fight is not done yet, and there are giants that need conquering.

Psalm 92:12-15 “The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright…”