Does the Bible say anything about retirement? Below is a piece from the Kairos Journal vault and, indeed, the Bible has much to say about productivity and faithfulness. Here is a taste:
It would be odd to hear a Christian say that his duty to obey the commandments against idolatry, blasphemy, adultery, murder, and coveting expired when he turned 65. Yet some believers seem to announce just that regarding the Fourth Commandment, which prescribes, in part, “Six days you shall labor.”
Read the rest below:
———-
8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work . . . 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Exodus 20:8-11 (ESV)
The Retire Early online magazine asks, “Fed up with commuting? Fed up with your nitwit boss? Bored with your job?” If yes is the answer, it offers a prescription—financial independence and early retirement. It extends sympathy and guidance to those who find that work interferes with what they really want to do with their lives, such as lowering their golf handicaps. Of course, it neglects to mention what God might want to do with its readers’ lives.
The Fourth Commandment begins by prescribing work (9a); God did not intend for life in this world to be one long Sabbath. The proper pattern of human life, established at creation, is six days of work and one day of rest (v. 11), a holy day (Genesis 2:3). God, who created in six days and rested on the seventh, is the model (Genesis 2:2-3).
God has given humans good work to do and provided them six days to accomplish their tasks. They are obliged to be productive on those days so that no work remains for the day of rest; in six days of the week, God’s people are to do all their work (v. 9).
There is a happy rhythm to human life, a weekly pattern of work and rest. Hebrews 4:6-13 speaks of a continuous Sabbath, but that is only in the world to come. Those who shun work today are presuming to claim heaven on earth, rather than laboring faithfully with an eye toward their eternal rest.
It would be odd to hear a Christian say that his duty to obey the commandments against idolatry, blasphemy, adultery, murder, and coveting expired when he turned 65. Yet some believers seem to announce just that regarding the Fourth Commandment, which prescribes, in part, “Six days you shall labor.” Of course, aging means task adjustments, but to think of stopping cold is impious. Honorable and fruitful second careers beckon as “retirees” continue to follow the Lord’s precepts. Their labor and fruitfulness are real, as is their need for a weekly day of rest.
As Christians walk through life, they encounter people with different temptations. Some will be tempted to overwork, neglecting to rest. Others will be tempted to avoid work in an attempt to find a permanent Sabbath in this life. The Fourth Commandment enables them to address both groups, highlighting their differing idolatries and providing God’s rhythm for life: a weekly rhythm of rest and work.