An interesting perspective on retirement was shared with me recently. A good friend when faced with a diagnosis of cancer found that he was sad and angry that he would not be able to enjoy his well-deserved retirement. After all, he had put in many years and much commitment into his career as a Family Practice physician. Wasn’t his retirement supposed to be his reward?
As he sought to chastise God for this disappointment, he said God had a different word for him. God told him that he had been given gifts to be used for God’s purposes, and that God would let him know when he would no longer need to use those gifts, and it had nothing to do with retirement. My friend seemed to find peace in this new perspective. He knew that he would not necessarily work forever, but that his God-given gifts were not just for use in his career. They were to be used in God’s service. It was not a work for later rewards, but a use of his gifts for Christ’s kingdom.
We get so caught up in the world’s ways of looking at quid pro quo and rewards that we forget our God has a different economy. What would it be like for us to look at the gifts we have been given in such a totally fresh way? How much more pleasure could we find in serving in God’s kingdom in this way? How can we look at what we do as a way of using our gifts of healing and service rather than earning a reward or just a living?
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