1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers,^[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1 ESV)

I have had a number of friends retire of late. I am still some time away from that but it got me thinking about it. In our Christian journey there is no real retirement. We are called to continue to preach the gospel and to reach others for Christ throughout our lives.

If we look back at the early church, especially the apostles, they died to bring Christ message to the world. In today’s scripture Paul is imprisoned but he is still writing to those he had fostered in the faith, both individuals and the early churches. He did not sit back and just let himself rot in prison. He was active even then.

It is easy to reach a point in life and desire to slow down, cut back and get in that retirement mindset. But why? Is it because we think we deserve it, we don’t! Is it because we think we have earned it, we haven’t! Is it because we think that our time is over, it isn’t!

Just because we are getting older and have put our “time in” we cannot begin to pull back. I say this both from the point of spreading the gospel and in regards to working in general. I think what kills more people than anything is letting themselves slip into a mindset of complacency when they get older.