Wednesday, November 16, 2011

"More Americans expecting to retire in their 80s " -- Why not to 120?

There is no shame in deferring one's retirement.

In fact, retirement is not even Biblical, let alone logical, moral, or even healthful.

Consider the grand example of Father Abraham:

"And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years.

"Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people." (Genesis 25:7-8)

"A good old age": Here "good" is rendering the Hebrew word "טוֹב
towb(tobe), which implies a plethora of wonderful things, including

beautiful, best, better, bountiful, cheerful, at ease, fair word, be in favor,

Abraham's years were filled with God's blessings. He was an active man, marrying after the death of his beloved wife Sarah, having more offspring, then leaving a grand inheritance to his beloved son Isaac, as well as gifts to his other children.

Isaac, too, lived a long, full life:

"And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him." (Genesis 35:29)

How about Moses, the blessed prophet, priest, and king who fulfilled the promises of the Lord to lead His people Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land?

"So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.

"And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.

"And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." (Deuteronomy 34:5-7)

Moses was a strong, healthy 120 years old when he died. Moses was not decrepit retiree with a withered underused frame; instead, his body was in such a good state, that Satan attempted to take Moses' body for himself (cf Jude 9)

How about Job? Don't tell me that this man gave up on life, after all that he endured at hand of Satan, and the blessings that flowed from the Lord following his return from captivity:

"So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.

"He had also seven sons and three daughters.

"And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch.

"And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.

"After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations.

"So Job died, being old and full of days." (Job 42: 12-17)
He had more, not less. He did not live off a pension from the state. He did not shuffle off to some old-folks home. He did not endure the ignominy of abandonment or unrest that plagues the "olden" years of many retirees.

For a farmer, a landholder, to enjoy such wealth, he had to be quick and nimble, wise in his investments. He sat in the gate of honor before the disasters that befell him, and it is certain that he continued to hold such honor to the day he breathed his last.

Retiree? Hardly!

For those who live by faith, filled to the fullness with the Holy Spirit, there is no abating the power and force that animates such a man or woman. There is no place for retirement in the Body of Christ!

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