March 3, 2020 – Click here to listen
So in a little while I will be heading offshore in my boat to enjoy a day of fishing with some buddies. The world is in turmoil with the Coronavirus, stock market, Super Tuesday, Netanyahu trying to cobble together a majority, and so on, but the only thing I will focus on will be finding and catching some fish in the deep blue waters off Jupiter.
I have three of my buddies joining me and we all get along very well so we should have a good time. It seems inconceivable to me that I’m semi-retired. Yes, I still do ministry work and have several speaking engagements lined up and some prison ministry in the near future, but it’s like skiing on a bunny slope instead of a black diamond mogul in comparison to how I used to work 20 hours per day.
I’ve pushed so hard for so many years I wondered if I could handle the change of stepping away from it, but I never lack having something to do. Retirement is not mentioned in the Bible. The only thing I can find is that the Levites who started out as apprentices doing manual labor were instructed to begin teaching and were relieved of the more strenuous manual labor of hauling ceremonial water and so on when they reached the ripe old age of 50. Numbers 8:25 – “This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years of age or older shall enter to perform the service in the work at the Tent of Meeting. But at the age of fifty, they must retire from performing the work and no longer serve. After that, they may assist their brothers in fulfilling their duties at the Tent of Meeting, but they themselves are not to do the work. This is how you are to assign responsibilities to the Levites.”
Check it out, those living in the days of Jesus (as mentioned in the New Testament) had an average lifespan that was similar to human lifespans predating the advent of modern medicine and technology. As such, the average life expectancy was around 30 to 35 years, similar to the lifespan of those in Rome.
I hope to serve the Lord as long as I can take a breath; however, now that my head is loaded with gray, I think I should quit running the race like a rabbit and start walking like a turtle. At any rate I lived with some stress over the years and now I don’t. That does not mean I will live any longer; however, it probably does mean that I can enjoy whatever days I do live more.
King Solomon: the wisest man to ever live and richest of his time, builder of the temple and beautiful works including vineyards, stables, palaces, and the like was a beautiful poet and national leader. In short, he was a man who seemed to have it all. Yet, at the end of his life, he penned these words in Ecclesiastes 2:11: “When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” This verse refers to all of the secular projects he accomplished. As I look back at the things that got me stressed out, most of it was just poppycock. Solomon discovered what was important at the end of his life. I see the end as the beginning with Jesus Christ opening up heaven for me.
Eccl. 12:13
When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and
keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether
good or evil . . .