August 6, 2017
“To everything there is a season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1), but there is something for us to do in every season. In our senior years, our service may be different than it was during our younger years, but God does not recognize retirement as a reason to stop serving.
Dale Yoder has written a little masterpiece that offers advice for a Christian’s retirement years. Yoder says, “When we get close to the end, SPRINT.” The word “sprint” is taken from his analogy that the Christian life is like a marathon race rather a nine-inning ball game that will be followed by many similar games to complete the season. As a marathon runner approaches the finish line, he actually breaks into a sprint with the goal of crossing the finish line just as his body collapses from exhaustion.
When we cross the finish line, whom do we want to hear say, “Well done!”? The crowds of people on earth? No, we want to hear these words from God. We are sure you do as well. Our objective is to die with our bodies used up in serving God, and our money sent ahead to Him who will not lose it.
We hope that all of you who are reading this will make a similar goal for your lives. Your ways of serving may be different. The pace of our sprint may be slower. It may even be in a wheel chair, but Kingdom work can be the major priority in our lives. We can still encourage others. We can still pray. Whatever season of life you are in, find some way to serve.
We won’t regret the effort when we wake at the resurrection and hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joys of your Lord.” That will be far more valuable than any cheers of the crowd on earth.
Yes, Jesus’ blood will have to cover our sins but “sprinting” as long as we can proves that our faith is genuine (James 2:18).
—Bob & Jan Towell
