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I Don’t Believe in Retirement

Copyright, American Assumptions, and False Laws That Nature Must Inevitably Tear Down

There is no word for “retirement” in the Bible.

Let that settle. Not one verse. Not one mention. Not even a hint that the righteous man finishes his course by purchasing an RV and golfing in the sun. From the patriarchs to the prophets, from David to Paul, to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the calling of life is not to rest in this age but to endure faithfully until the end.

What the Bible does speak of is sojourning—a life spent walking through a desert between two promised lands. Whether you’re Joseph in Pharaoh’s house or John exiled on Patmos, the pattern isn’t luxury but perseverance. The reward isn’t temporal ease but eternal glory. The provision isn’t guaranteed by human systems or pensions but by the hand of God, who gives daily bread—sometimes in the form of manna, sometimes with quail, and often with the hard truth: You’re going to eat the same thing for forty years.

This is where the American Christian has been hoodwinked.

We’ve confused the pursuit of justice with the pursuit of comfort. We’ve been sold a gospel of upward mobility, bought it on credit, and called it “blessing.” The result? A nation where the Church no longer trains men to endure hardship but to outsource their responsibilities and “retire” from them. Where copyrights replace stewardship, and assumptions become laws that Nature herself does not recognize.

Retirement is one such assumption—a false law, pretending that at some arbitrary age, a man ceases to bear fruit, ceases to labor, and is justified in abandoning the field. But no such decree exists in the law of God or the law of nature. The tree planted by streams of water bears fruit in its season—not until it turns 65, but until the axe is laid at the root.

The world around us is showing signs of cracking. Economies based on debt, social orders built on fantasies of infinite growth, and legal codes written to preserve illusions of safety and fairness—these are not truths. They are the delusions of an empire whose time is running out.

And the Christian must ask: Where is my hope?

Is it in the 401k or the 4 Gospels? Is it in the security of Caesar’s coin, or the sufficiency of Christ’s cross? Do I follow the path of the desert fathers, or do I bow to the golden calf of American retirement?

The time is short. The veil is lifting. The Emerald City was always just a man behind a curtain.

So no, I don’t believe in retirement. I believe in callings that don’t expire. I believe in gifts that don’t cease. I believe in strength made perfect in weakness, and wisdom passed through scars.

Let the world chase illusions. Let it crash. I’ve got manna for today.

That’s enough to share.