Reframing Retirement
Sidney worked hard all his life. He was well-regarded by his employers, cared well for his family and was active in his church. The day Sidney qualified for the aged […]
Reformed Thought for Christian Living
Sidney worked hard all his life. He was well-regarded by his employers, cared well for his family and was active in his church. The day Sidney qualified for the aged […]
Sidney worked hard all his life. He was well-regarded by his employers, cared well for his family and was active in his church. The day Sidney qualified for the aged pension was retirement day. He quit his job, left his church roles, said goodbye to his wider family and was last seen hitting the highway for a twelve-month 4WD trip with his wife.
Sidney’s retirement fits a common pattern in the western world. The years after employment are seen as a time for self-indulgence in the dreams of a lifetime and for spending freely on one’s heart’s desire.
Such a view of retirement is uncommon globally and historically. Most people in most places at most times continue in some form of work until they are incapable or until they die.
What is a Christian frame on retirement?
First, some foundations:
What does all this imply?
There is a time to leave paid employment or at least step back. This creates employment opportunities for younger workers and helps refresh workplaces, including in ministry employment. It also avoids the sad picture of the workers who just will not let go. However, retirement from employment is not the same as retirement from work.
Consider these samples of people who retired from employment but kept working:
These people retired from employment but did not retire from work. They are like Moses who served until his death at 120 (Ex 34:7) or Paul who spoke of pressing forward rather than resting on his past (Phil 3:7-14). This is retirement reframed as an opportunity to continue serving.
To balance that it needs to be said that there may be seasons of life when withdrawal from activity for a period of contemplation, refreshment and renewal is apt. Early church figures like Augustine and Chrysostom withdrew for contemplation after their conversions. People may use long service leave, or the space between employment, or after their last employment to give themselves to rest and to personal improvement of some kind. But the time will come again to fulfil the creational mandate and work while there are hours in our days (Jn 9:4; 11:9). And so, Chrysostom and Augustine each soon left their temporary retreats to give unwearied work in the Lord’s service as great church preachers.
By all means let’s retire from employment, slow down, and take time to enjoy the life that God gives. But let’s keep fulfilling our garden identity by working in God’s world and serving according to our capacity and circumstances. That enduring work of ours is a thank offering for Christ’s work for us and in expectation of the eternal rest to come when he returns.
There is a time to recognise that we will lay down our labours and surrender to rest (2 Tim 4:6-8). However, many in the western world seem to confuse retirement from employment with retirement from work and seek to enter that rest too early.
The last word is John Piper’s. At the end of a book on retirement he says: Here is my prayer for retirement – Lord, spare me this curse!”.