Reluctant Retiree

Here, in the midwest, it is the end of crop growing season. Crops have been harvested and the fields been prepared for winter. To be honest, we see mostly the end of plant life these days.

We don’t have many vines and grapes growing in the area, although there are some. Jesus had a lot to say about vines and branches in John 15. He instructed that the branch depends upon the vine for nourishment and growth. The whole purpose of this symbiotic relationship is to produce fruit.

Jesus tells this parable to teach us about our relationship with him. First, if we are not branches connected to the vine, we are dead and cannot bear fruit. Secondly, we may be branches attached to the vine and bearing fruit, but Jesus will discipline or test us so that we will bear more fruit. Thirdly, to bear much fruit we must be abiding in the vine. This occurs when we are trusting and fully dependent on the vine, Jesus, then we can be sure that the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience and kindness are growing in us. Furthermore we will be doing good for others, drawing them to Jesus.

John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Abide in Jesus, so that you can bear much fruit in and through your life.

It has been strange to watch sporting events without fans in the stadiums. Teams have tried different things to make it appear like fans are in attendance. They have crowd noise piped into the sound system, cardboard pictures of fans in some seats, videos of fans in the seats, and videos of fans celebrating at home. I wonder how the absence of fans impact the players, if at all.

I have to question how much of what I do is done in such a way as to impress others. Even when I do something kind, do I do it just to get some attention or admiration, or are my motives pure? To make sure my motives are unselfish, I really should consider who is watching. First, I should perform for an audience of one, my God. Is what I am doing what God wants me to do? Am I doing this in the power of and at the direction of the Holy Spirit?

There is another audience I should consider. All the saints who have gone before me are cheering me on. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race set before us, looking to Jesus.” The only way to keep them cheering is to keep my eyes on Jesus.

Our 1 1/2 year old granddaughter is staying with us today. She is always a joy to have around us. I look into her eyes and I see expectation of fun and excitement. I see hope for a bright day. I see love for all.

My hope is that my eyes return that love. My expectation is to instill hope and faith in God. My desire is to assist her in becoming a godly women and use the many talents God has given her.

What is God’s plan for her? While I do not know the specifics of His plan, I do know that His plans are for her good. Jeremiah 29 :11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” This promise is for us as well. God has plans for our future and welfare.

I lived the first 21 years of my life in the same house. While life outside this house was stable, life inside was not. We had our share of family problems. After I got married and moved out, our family moved quite a few times.

Except for the two years we lived in Las Vegas, the people around us almost all had lived in the same place for decades. Most did not even want to visit other places in the country, and certainly did not want to travel internationally. While I see the benefit of stability, I don’t understand why anyone would not want to visit other cultures and learn different ways.

To me diversity is inspiring, while challenging in some respects. If we make no effort to learn from different peoples, we stay stuck in our limited and walled-in knowledge. Knowledge helps to break down the barriers between us. Of course the best bridge to strong relationships is a common understanding. Christians should have the best of common understanding, because we have God’s Spirit within us and His Word to lead us.

I John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” So get yourself unstuck. Get out there and have fellowship with someone from a different culture. This fellowship is good, but even better if both parties know Jesus.

Have you ever been in a room with strobe lighting? Lights are flashing in the darkness and it is very difficult to see anything.

As I get older, sometimes I feel like the world around me is darkness, except for the strobe lighting. The darkness is the fear and anxiety of many troubles. The flashing lights are the many pressures fighting for my attention. If I give into the fear, anxiety and pressures, I make bad choices and sin.

How do I find my way out from under the darkness and flashing lights, away from fear, anxiety and pressure? How do I drown out these voices seeking my attention? II Corinthians 10:5 says, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” I need to listen to the only voice speaking truth, the voice of God. His voice gives me peace in the midst of the chaos around me.

As I sit here, my stomach is growling. It is not because I am hungry, because I just ate lunch. Our stomachs sometimes growl because of some ailment. I hope that is not the case for me now, but I can’t say for sure. In any case, our stomachs most often growl because it seeks some better condition or state.

We do this as human beings also. We are not shy about raising a complaint if conditions or circumstances surrounding us are not satisfactory to us. Depending on the situation, our voices may even become elevated.

Did you know that the earth is also groaning? The Bible tells us that God created a perfect earth, a paradise called The Garden of Eden. Unfortunately man sinned and God removed man from the garden to toil on the earth. Since that time the earth has been groaning to return to that paradise state. When Jesus returns and gathers his people, dead and alive, unto himself, he will take us to a new heaven and earth. The earth will be renewed and cease its groaning.

We also groan in the same way. We are made to live in this new earth and we groan until we arrive there with Jesus. Romans 8:22-23 says, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” So a great renewal will take place, but it is available to us only through placing our faith in Jesus.

I think mail delivery is a great job. You get to be outside most of the day. You get to deliver greeting cards, hopefully with kind greetings. Often you get to meet nice people. I just witnessed our mail man help an elderly lady with her large package. If you enjoy working alone, this is the job to have.

There are some disadvantages to the job. Sometimes the weather and/or people can be unpleasant. Often times the deliveries include unpleasant news. Then there are the dogs and other animals you may have to deal with.

But, all in all, I believe I am well suited for this job. I am an introvert of the highest order, so working alone is a benefit to me. I am retired now, so the dream of being a mall carrier is just that, a dream.

I have had other jobs that I was well suited for and thrived in. I did have a couple that I was not good at and did not last long in, middle school teacher and a janitor job for instance. I think that I did learn the secret to joy in all the jobs I had. It is found in Colossians 3:17: “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

At one time I was a teacher’s assistant in a middle school. One day several assistants were assigned the task of putting together some teaching materials. I admit that it was boring work. The other assistants were spending the whole time complaining. God brought the Colossians verse to my mind. It changed my whole attitude and I was able to be thankful, trying to do my best work for the teachers and for the Lord.

What is liberty? Is it the freedom to do whatever we want? I suggest that it can’t be. We live in community with others, doing whatever we want will often interfere with the freedom of others to do what they want. In that case our liberty takes away from the liberty of others, so it is not true liberty.

My definition of liberty is the freedom to do the right thing, or to live in righteousness. Unfortunately, our selfishness and self-centeredness often keep us from doing the thing that we know is right. We may know what is right and want to do this right thing, but we cannot do it because our selfish desires overwhelm us.

So where is true liberty to be found. The apostle Paul describes this inner turmoil and the cure in Romans 7:22-25. It says, “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” And Romans 12:2 says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” So the only way to consistently do the right thing is to know the right thing. We do that by allowing God to transform us by giving us renewed minds.

The holiday season is approaching so I have been thinking about gifts. Giving gifts is truly giving when we don’t expect anything in return. We give gifts to family members because we love them, but sometimes in the back of our minds we are expecting a gift in return. We give gifts to charities because of the needs the gifts help serve. But do we also give so that we can feel good about ourselves.

Wouldn’t it be great this holiday season, if we could give gifts without the expectation of receiving something in return? Perhaps we could give a gift to someone not normally on our list. Perhaps we could even give a gift to a stranger. Maybe we could do a special kindness for someone we barely know or a stranger. It would be great if I could surprise myself by sacrificing a part of the season to help others. Sure, I would benefit by feeling good about myself, but if it is true sacrifice on my part, then my motivation is really to help others.

Hebrews 13:16 encourages us to sacrifice in this way by saying, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

I have a very hairy chest and back. I know that is TMI (Too much information), and you really don’t care. But recently I had a medical procedure where they had to shave off all that hair before the procedure. It was both disgusting to the medical assistant and embarrassing to me. Worse than that, however, has been the inevitable process of growing back that hair. It itched all the time and the little hairs kept getting caught in the fabric of my shirts. The only way to get through this process with my sanity in place was to look forward to the time when the growth and comfort returned.

It strikes me that life is a little like this hair growth process. We experience times when things are a bit uncomfortable. However, we know that these temporary struggles make us stronger and more mature. In the spiritual realm, God uses these trials to help us to grow into spiritual maturity and become more like him.

Philippians 3:12-14 says, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Be patient, but always look forward to the great things God has in store for you.