MY VIEW OF RETIREMENT
God created the world and gave authority to Adam and Eve who turned it over to Satan when they sinned. God Himself came as Jesus to win it back. When He came, He landed behind enemy lines, in enemy occupied territory. He gathered a band of followers around Him to help spread light in the darkness and bring freedom for those in captivity. When Jesus left, that band continued to operate. They grew into the church which continues to grow today.
As Christians, we are still living in enemy occupied territory. Life is a battle. It is constant warfare. The intensity of the battle ebbs and flows but we are battling the forces of Satan and his demons in addition to the world he controls. Since we left Satan’s army to join God’s army, he has been doing anything he can to win us back or at least make us ineffective in God’s army. Those no longer in Satan’s army find themselves attacked by Him the rests of their lives. Pastors, church leaders, Christian teachers, missionaries, etc. are on the front line of that battle. We fight, we train, we encourage, we help the wounded, we rescue those we can from bondage into the freedom found only in Jesus.
When I retired from full-time pastoring, I felt that I stepped away from the front line of the battle. That doesn’t mean I don’t have my own personal battles. God has been working in me in many ways during the last few years. Growing physically older and weaker has its own new set of battles to fight. But as far as the ongoing universal conflict between God and His church and Satan and his forces, I now work mainly behind the lines, supporting the war effort by training pastors, teaching, writing books and blogs, counseling, praying and preaching and teaching when asked. Every once in a while I make a foray back to the front line when I minister in spiritual warfare, am invited to preach or train pastors in India.
It’s important for me to keep that battle motif in mind or I will start to coast and think this life is all about my pleasure. It’s not. I must constantly be alert for our enemy is everywhere. He is very deceptive. We must fight for ourselves, for other Christians who are also attacked and to win the freedom of unbelievers who are still in bondage.
That’s the way I see my life. How do you see your role in life? I challenge you to evaluate the way you see your place in life today. How do you view life and your part in it? Are you here to serve God, or do you believe He is here to serve you? (Doylestown, PA December 4, 20223)
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Philippians 1:21
Take a few minutes to write down what you think your function in life is. Why does God keep you alive?
Are you fulfilling the purpose for which God has you on earth, or just passing time trying to find some pleasure here and there?
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling, World View)
Copyright © 2023