Is Retirement Biblical?

Now this may sound like an unusual question, but is “retirement” biblical? Is there a time in a man’s life that God has appointed for endless leisure activities and no work?

Like I have said before, a simple question deserves a simple answer – there is simply no positive example of old-age “retirement” anywhere in the Bible. Notice, I said there are no positive examples. Now I’m not aware of any biblical examples of retirement, but if there are some, they must be negative, that is, not-to-be-followed examples. Here's why:

You see, God commands that men work by the sweat of their brow. He places no age limit on this command. Ever wonder why laziness is a sin? It is a sin because God commands work!

Genesis 2:15, “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

Genesis 3:19, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

Notice, the Lord says that a man must work until the day he dies! ...” till thou return unto the ground...” This is referring to death. God wants us to work until we die; this means, if you’re still alive, God still has work for you to do!

Furthermore, Paul gave a clear command about work in 2 Thessalonians:

2 Thessalonians 3:10, “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”

There you have it, work is not optional. Now don’t get me wrong, there may come a time in a man’s life when he is no longer physically able to work. However, this is drastically different from choosing to retire at age 65 simply because of a suposed "earned right."

Maybe these Scriptures are not very clear to all my readers, but they sure are clear to me. I plan to work as long as God gives me the ability to do so. I encourage all others to do the same.

Another thing to consider is that retirement may use up your children’s inheritance.

Proverbs 13:22, “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children...”

Rise up “good men”. Work to build wealth for your children and grandchildren. You cannot earn the right to retire until you expire.