Financial Crisis and Retirement 2008

FINANCIAL CRISIS AND RETIREMENT 2008

It is being called the worst financial crisis in decades. The US government designated 700 billion dollars of assistance to ailing financial institutions caught in a cycle of self-destruction, starting with money market funds (with billions more on the way). What are we to think of all these developments when just a couple of years ago the “sky was the limit” in the mortgage and housing markets.

This especially hits hard retired people whose monthly income may largely depend upon the security of their investments. For many “the good life” that they have worked so hard to achieve may be flying away like a bird let loose from a cage.

These economic developments bring up some important questions. Not too long ago I heard the testimony of a “retired” pastor in his early 70s. He had retired from many years of fruitful church ministry. Then the dot.com bust at the turn of the century washed away most all of his savings. Now he is joyfully in the most productive ministry of his life, training and mentoring intentional interim and renewal pastors for several denominations. Here is the question. What if the Lord was to ask this man, “What could have been done for My kingdom if you had not retired, given the money to My work (instead of losing it in the stock market) and kept pressing on for Me and in ministry?” We can be grateful for the way Christ in His loving providence kept this man’s heart and life and ours as well for Himself and eternity.

Perhaps you are middle-aged facing retirement or in retirement after fruitful service in the church. As you continue to press on for the Lord and the ministry He has for you, would you prayerfully consider a ministry to help train and encourage some of the 3.2 million untrained and under-trained pastors worldwide?

The words of encouragement and warning of Jesus our Lord are just as relevant today as when He first spoke them. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon” (Matthew 6:19-21, 24). “But seek first His (God’s) kingdom, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).