Reluctant Retiree

Several years ago, when we lived in Albuquerque, a rich man hid a million dollars somewhere in New Mexico. I guess he published some clues. A large number of people went in search of the treasure. Some spent years trying to find it. If you know anything about New Mexico, you know that it covers a lot of barren land. It was a difficult task, but recently someone found the treasure. I hope he found it worth the effort.

Some people shop the same way. They comb the ads and search the malls for a treasure. They spend a lot of time, money and effort to find just the right thing.

I suppose there are circumstances that make each of these searches worthwhile. However, my guess is that both searches do not satisfy, at least for a long time. God says that there is a search that will satisfy our deepest desires and the satisfaction will last forever. Psalm 34:10 says, “The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. ” God promises to give us every good thing, if we will only seek Him. Psalm 23:1 confirms this promise when it says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” As our Good Shepherd, God takes care of His sheep by providing for every need.

A woman makes the mistake of walking down the toy aisle in the department store. Her three small children begin to ask for their favorite toys. The woman, in a hurry, politely tells the children that they can’t buy toys right now. But the children persist and begin to make a very public scene. The mother finally relents and buys the toys. The children are happy, but not for long. At the checkout register, they spot candy. The cycle begins again, with the children demanding, the mother denying their requests, the children persisting, and the mother finally relenting. What have the children learned? Is it right to give your children everything they want?

As we grow up, we grow out of this practice of demanding whatever we want. Or do we? What about the husband who demands that his wife give him everything he wants? When she won’t or can’t, he goes out to find someone who will. What about the ambitious employee who is not getting all he/she wants from an employer? He/she may change jobs frequently or start stealing from the employer.

But you say, “I am not like that! ” Maybe you or I don’t go to those extremes, but I think we show the same attitudes in smaller ways. Perhaps we simply give a cold shoulder to the one who denies us what we want. Maybe we react with anger like all the “Karens” outed on social media these days.

How do we react if God says no to our request? King David had this happen. David was a man after God’s own heart. Yet when David wanted to build a temple for God, God said no. God had blessed David mightily up to this point, making him king and giving him victory over his opponents. But God denied this request. Everything went downhill for David after that. David went back to war. He sinned with Bethsheba and killed her husband. Their child died. David’s son rebelled against his father.

How do we react when God says no? Do we accept the negative answer and move forward in the knowledge that God knows best? Or do we rebel and do what we want anyway. Rebellion has terrible consequences. God is good and is able to give the very best to us. We need to trust Him, even when He says no to our request.

Have you ever watched a relative’s or a friend’s life descend out of control? Maybe your own life has done that. They seem normal and reasonably happy, but then changes occur that cause you to worry about them. They begin to withdraw. When they do speak, their words are quite negative. They start to hangout with a different crowd, one that doesn’t bring many positive influences.

Alcohol and drug addictions can certainly be the causes of these types of behaviors. We should certainly be aware of these dangerous activities. But the Bible describes another type of behavioral descent. Psalm 1:1 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.” Notice the downward progression. First, this person simply walks by where evil lurks and talks to him. But then, this person is found standing with sinners. Finally, he begins to take up residence in evil places, where sin dwells.

We can’t let evil put its hooks in us, like this passage describes. Even the smallest flirtation with sin can lead us into this descent. So what is the remedy? Verse 2 goes on to describe the blessed man; “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” So instead of walking, standing and sitting where sin dwells, we must stay where God’s Word directs us.

If we stay in God’s Word, verse 3 gives us a promise; “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” By staying in God’s Word we will bear fruit and prosper.

I hear that there is a big game coming up on Sunday. Two great teams with two great quarterbacks will determine the world champion. It will be a glorious event with several million, if not billions, of eyes focused on the game.

What could possibly top that? How about the battle at the end of time! The ruler of this world, Satan, will face off against Almighty God. Spoiler Alert! God wins and establishes His Kingdom on the New Earth, Heaven.

You will really want to be on the winning side of that ultimate battle. You can be, you know. All it takes is aligning yourself with Almighty God, by believing in Jesus as your Savior and Lord. After all God says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. God promises even more to His worshippers in Romans 8:37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” That is not just a promise for the end times, but also for every day.

Imagine a courtroom where you are the defendant. The state is the plaintiff accusing you, not of one crime , but many. Day after day the evidence of your crimes is presented. You begin to sweat because the evidence is compelling, and you know that you did indeed commit the crimes. Finally the evidentiary part of the trial is complete and the judge is ready to hand down the verdict and sentence, if you are found guilty. What would you be thinking and feeling at this time?

Thank God that I have never faced this situation personally. I have been a juror a couple times, but that is as close as I have been to this scenario. I pray that you and I will never have to face this kind of moment in our lives.

The Bible does tell us that we will face judgment at the end of time, however. We will appear before God and give an account for all we have done. God’s judgment is much more fearsome than the courtroom scene described above. If we have rejected the sacrifice that Jesus made for our sins by dying on the cross, we will be sentenced to life apart from God, otherwise known as hell. For those of us who have accepted the free gift of salvation, we will spend eternity in the gracious loving presence of God. Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ” In Jesus we are declared not guilty because He has removed our sins from us. Today, if you have heard His voice, do not harden your heart. Make the right choice and accept the free gift of salvation.

I love watching ventriloquists perform. They are so good that I am convinced that the puppet is actually speaking. It is amazing how the ventriloquist can change voices so quickly and give the puppet personality at the same time.

Perhaps I am enamored with these performances because I have such difficulty speaking to others. I don’t have a speech defect. It’s just that my brain seems to get locked up and I don’t know how to say what I want to say. I often wind up saying things more dramatically than I intend. It makes me not want to speak at all.

Does any of this ever happen to you? Fortunately it doesn’t happen to me when I am talking to God. Even though I am talking to Almighty God when I pray, the Bible says that I can come to Him with confidence through the shed blood of Jesus. Furthermore, I have the promise of Roman’s 8:26, which says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words.” The Holy Spirit knows my heart and can speak to the Father for me, no matter bow awkward my words seem to be.

Every day first responders inspire us with their courage. They perform difficult tasks under dire circumstances, all the while they are often putting their own lives in danger. Medical personnel have put their own and their family’s safety at risk while saving others during this pandemic. Soldiers risk their lives to protect our freedom and liberty.

These and other heroic acts demonstrate courage and selflessness. Where does this courage come from? Am I able to respond with courage if the need arises?

I have not faced these types of situations before. But, like you, I have faced situations where some degree of courage was needed. Often, making the right choice takes courage. This right choice may cause us to lose something. For instance, standing by a moral choice can cause the loss of friends, a job, or a significant relationship. Standing strong in our faith can also cause the same types of losses.

How do we find the strength and courage to make the right decision in the face of potential loss? Psalms 27:14 says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! ” The Lord gives us strength and courage. The key is to ask him for strength before we make a choice and then wait for him to provide the courage to act.

Our minds are spectacularly awesome things. We can think the most lofty and glorious thoughts. Unfortunately we can also think about the basest and darkest things. Our minds can alternately understand the most complex issues and the simplest of ideas. We can compute sophisticated calculations internally within seconds and be dumbfounded on how to make change at the store.

I have played a lot of baseball in my seven decades of life, and I am always amazed that a baseball player can calculate the trajectory of a fly ball along with his /her own speed to be in the right place to catch the ball in flight. To me that is unbelievable physics calculations done without thinking about the details.

Our amazing minds are, to me, evidence of God’s creation. It takes more faith to believe that our minds are the result of arbitrary external circumstances. So we need to be good stewards of our minds and use these God-given abilities for His glory and to benefit others. Roman’s 8:6 says, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” This verse tells us how to glorify God with our minds, i.e. by setting our minds on the things of the Lord. It also describes the benefits if we do set our minds on Him, i.e. life and peace. Lastly the verse warns us that if we set our mind on fleshly appetites it leads to death. We need to be careful what we give our mind’s attention to.

I am a classic introvert. When I have taken personality tests, I have always scored at the extreme end of the introvert spectrum. Our culture doesn’t know what to do with introverts. People make all sorts of judgments when looking at my personality type. I’ve had people suggest that I must be wise because I am thinking all the time. Well, yes, I am thinking, but I would be brain dead if I wasn’t. I have also had people think that I was angry all the time. NOTE: quiet does not equal angry. Some have thought that I was aloof. Not likely. I just don’t have anything to say at the moment.

Being introverted just means that people drain energy from me. An extrovert gains energy being with people. Our culture values extroverts because of the energy they bring to social gatherings. That’s okay, and I am fine with that truth and with being an introvert in this culture.

We all make judgments about people based on appearances only. If someone could look into our minds, I believe that our judgments in these cases are most likely wrong more than 90 percent of the time. Nevertheless, we should be wise in how we present ourselves to others.

In the book of Acts, the apostles John and Peter healed a man, in the name of Jesus, at the temple. Then they began to presch about Jesus. The Jewish leadership had them arrested. The apostles were thoroughly questioned and then threatened to not speak this way again. Acts 4:13 says, “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.”

So the leaders judgment about these men, just by looking at them, was that they had been with Jesus. What do people think about you, just by looking at you. I already told you what they tend to think about me by looking at me. Oh how I would prefer that they would recognize that I have been with Jesus. I am working on that and praying about that. What about you?

Once several years ago, I was trekking in the Himalayas of Nepal. We came to one of the many suspension bridges that cross the river. Suddenly I became very afraid. Even though I was with other people and I had no other option, I couldn’t get the nerve to cross for several minutes. After sitting and praying for about 15 minutes, I got up and headed to the bridge. I wouldn’t let anyone on the bridge at the same time as me and I asked the others to pray. I made it across that bridge and several more on that trek during the next three days. It’s a good thing, because there was no other way down the mountain.

All of us have fears or phobias that can be difficult for us to overcome. It is another thing entirely to deal with the fear of other people thinking poorly about us. Most surveys say that our number one fear is public speaking. Why? Because we are afraid of what people will think about us. That same type of fear pops up in large gatherings and when we meet new people, especially prospective in-laws.

This fear also shows up when we tell others about something important to us, like our faith. We are afraid that they will reject us. God gives us comfort in these times when he promises, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6) God promises to protect his people from all evil. We can be comforted and feel secure in these promises.