What is the Christian view of retirement?

Question: "What is the Christian view of retirement?"

Answer: There are a few principles that may be of help to you in your question.

1) Although there is not a general principle that a person should retire from his work when he reaches a certain age, there is the example of the Levites in regard to work related to the tabernacle. In Numbers 4, when it numbers the different Levite males for service of the tabernacle, it numbers them from ages 30 - 50 years of age. Why stop at age 50? Numbers 8:24-26 says the following: “This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more: But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.”

2) Even though one may retire from one's work (even "full-time" Christian ministry), he should never retire from serving the Lord. (The way that they serve Him may change). You have the example of two very old people in Luke 2:25-38 (Simeon and Anna) who continued to serve the Lord faithfully. In that passage you have an elderly widow who is spoken of as ministering to the Lord (it uses a word usually reserved for priestly service) in the temple daily with fastings and prayer. Indeed, Titus 2 states that the older men and women are to teach those younger than them how to behave by their example.

3) One's older years are NOT to be spent on the pursuit of pleasure. Paul says that the widow who lives for pleasure is dead while she yet lives (1 Timothy 5:6). Contrary to biblical instruction, most people equate retirement with "pursuit of pleasure" if at all possible!

4) 2 Corinthians 12:14 states that the parent ought to lay up for the children. Again, perhaps you have seen a bumper sticker on an RV that states, "We are spending our children's inheritance." But by far the greatest thing to "lay up" is one's spiritual heritage which can be passed on not only to children but to grandchildren and even great-grandchildren as well. James Dobson, in his book, Straight Talk to Men and Their Wives, speaks of his great-grandfather who in his older years spend one hour a day just before lunch praying for his descendants, those presently living as well as those not even on the scene yet. One day he announced to his family that God informed him that all of his descendants unto the fourth generation would become Christians. James Dobson was of that fourth generation and indeed all before him had not only become Christians but had also been ministers or married ministers of the denomination that his great-grandfather had been a part of. James Dobson was the first one to not enter the ministry.

In summary, as one reaches "retirement age" (whatever that is) his vocation may change but living one's life to serve the Lord does not change. And often it is these "senior saints" who, having a lifetime of walking with God, are able to relate the truths of God's Word in shoe leather by relating how God has worked in their lives. The psalmist's prayer should be our prayer as we age (Psalm 71:18): "Now also when I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not; until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come."

Unfortunately in our culture, the aged are often viewed as good for nothing but to be stuck away in some nursing home. Instead they ought to be treated with respect and to be learned from, especially when their lives have been lived for Christ (Proverbs 16:31).

Recommended Resource: Creating a Successful Retirement: Finding Peace and Purpose by Richard Johnson.