Perspective

Redirection, not retirement

One of the things Peter Markgraaff observed living in Washington, D.C. was that it is a very transient city. People come and go due to careers in government, working on government contracts, or working in the military.

By Peter Markgraaff, Institute for Faith, Work and Economics

Because of this, you hear the terms “deployment,” “posting,” “assignment,” “contracted,” “stationed,” (which are all temporary) and then “retirement” – even if it’s only a retirement from a first career.

For this reason, the language of retirement has caught my attention recently and urged me to consider it in light of God’s call on our lives.


A Generation in Need

It is God’s call on our lives – our whole lives – that makes me see the idea of retirement as a myth. Now more than ever, I believe we are in a time when we are being stirred to action to use the gifts God has placed in us, no matter what stage of life we are in.

In Malachi 4:6, God says:

He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents, or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.

This, I believe, is something the Spirit of God is awakening in our day. The reason is that many people in positions of spiritual leadership today are largely fatherless. If not abandoned by their own fathers, there is an absence of fathering.

Within the church, this has led to many living with an orphaned spirit, as there has been no biblical model of fathering to mentor, instruct, and teach people the truth of the father’s heart and his kingdom.

So, our heavenly father is now speaking to a generation of fathers and mothers to arise and shine and take their place to parent a fatherless generation, regardless of our age or stage in life.

Read the full story at the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics.
Up Next

Saudi prince hosts US evangelical Christians

Read Now

Sign up for our
Saturday 7 email digest

Join close to 50,000 subscribers who receive our email digest of
the week's top stories from ncfgiving.com. We call it Saturday 7.

Read our privacy policy

×