Don’t Live For Retirement

Ernest Hemingway said, “Retirement is the ugliest word in the human language.”

Retirement provision is something that confuses many Christians. It seems we’ve developed a mania about saving for the future! The world promotes the idea that in retirement we deserve to enjoy ourselves. As a result, many people think they’ll need more money for those years. Granted, you need to have enough put away to support your life expectancy, but if you cap your lifestyle, then in most cases your costs should go down. Let me put it to you straight. Those who are hoarding money for retirement are being deceived.

If you’ve been told that your usefulness begins to decline at age 65 please know that many of the apostles did their greatest work after the time that they might have been considered to be “old men”. Many people continue to build businesses, invent new products, create great art, and minister to others far past their 60s. In fact, I like the thought of living like Satchel Paige who asked “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?” If you’re in good health, you don’t have to retire, despite what the world may tell you.  Prepare wisely but remember that storing unnecessarily may add undue stress to your life and take your dependency off the Lord. Let me repeat, there is nothing wrong with retirement planning, but there is something wrong with living for retirement, and there’s nothing wrong with saving unless you’ve got the wrong motivation. Do you believe God is capable of supplying in your old age? I certainly do.

If you’ve been helped by Crown or this radio station, I want to ask you to support us. We work to help others and your gifts make that possible, and if you already give, thank you for your generosity! You can begin giving today online at crown.org.