There are ways to retire well, and there are ways to retire wrong. Retiring well has nothing to do with how much money you’ve saved. When people think of retirement, they often think about making sure they have enough money to spend the time they will not be working on hobbies, trips, and entertainment. But there is something important missing to that mindset.
In an interview, pro basketball star Gilbert Arenas talks about how he retired at age 32 with a net worth over $100 million.
Guess what Arenas said it felt like to be 32 with $100 million. “Miserable.”
Do you know why?
He didn’t have basketball anymore. Arenas says from age 10 to age 32, everything in his life revolved around basketball. He talked about smelling the season. That resonated with me. I was a soccer player from 6th grade till I graduated from college. Every fall for 11 straight years, I played soccer. My body was accustomed to getting into shape. Running, practice, workouts, games. Every fall. The end of summer changing to fall has a distinct smell. All these years later, I still smell it every year.
For Gilbert Arenas it was basketball. Twenty two years of basketball. It went away when he retired at age 32.
You know what he did? He says, “I had to figure out how to be busy…..I spent a year just driving in traffic.”
He would wake up, drive for 3-4 hours in the morning. Get lunch. Drive for another 3-4 hours in the afternoon. No where to go. Nothing to see. Just drive. In that first year after his retirement, he put 30,000 miles on his vehicle.
He went to the mall, realized he could buy anything in the mall, and it felt meaningless. He went to the dealership, realized he could be any vehicle he wanted, and it felt meaningless.
What happened to Gilbert Arenas when he retired? He lost his purpose. For 22 years, the purpose of his life was basketball. Now it was gone.
As followers of Jesus, you may lose your job, you may retire, but you do not lose your purpose. You are a follower of Jesus, and though you may not need to make money anymore, your purpose remains. You are a follower of Jesus, and your life is about pursuing the mission of his kingdom.
There is no teaching from Jesus that says, “When you arrive at retirement age, I release you from mission. You no longer need to serve the mission of the Kingdom.” No! I recently heard this statement: “I’m not retired, I’m refired.” Reinvigorated, because they spend that much more time serving the mission of Jesus. What is so beautiful is that being refired for the mission is not only good for us, but also good for those we serve, as we pursue Jesus’ way.
Christian pastor and author John Piper tells the story of a family in his church who retired. Their dream was to get a boat and go sailing. So they bought a boat, and they would post pictures on social media of their exploits, which involved walking up and down sandy beaches trawling for shells.
Around the same time, the church got news that one of their missionary families was tragically killed. People in the church heard the news and said, “What a tragedy,” about the loss of the missionary.
Piper responded, “That loss of the missionary is sad, but that is not the tragedy. The tragedy is the people who believe that retirement is meant for trawling for shells.”
Piper is not saying you can’t vacation. Piper is not saying you can’t have a hobby. He’s simply saying that we ought not allow leisure, comfort, and entertainment become the focus of our lives.
No matter your station in life, student, working, parenting, retirement, you are God’s steward. Live your life for the mission of his kingdom.
Work hard, live simply, for the purpose of sacrificial generosity, which is the what Jesus taught us and how he lived his life. The mission of the Kingdom is the basis for how we make decisions.
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 