Serving Jesus In All You Do (Audio)

Para Vista Lutheran Church

I will shortly be retiring. With my retirement looming, it’s natural to ask, “What’s next?” You can retire from your employment, but not from God’s calling on your life. This means that rather than experiencing retirement as a loss of vocation, it is instead a refocussing of our vocation. It is a season when we have more time to focus on other callings than our employment and earning a living. My job is what I’m paid to do. My on-going calling is to serve Jesus and be a blessing to those around me in Jesus’ name (verse 17). This on-going calling is not merely what I do, at a deeper level it helps to define who I am as a follower of Jesus. This has relevance not only for those who are retired, but for all of us and in all the different seasons of life and for whatever situation you find yourself in, especially in times of changing circumstances.

This is also a reminder that our dignity is not determined by our pay cheque! And contrary to the deceitful lie that our culture tells us, the contributions that we make to the lives of others, are not measurable by the dollar! So, as we step into something new (a new season; a new job; a new relationship; a new city; a new responsibility), we do well to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance (verse 15) and prayerfully ask the question: “How can I serve and honour God and be a blessing to others in this new situation?”
Exploring that may turn out to be the most important (and fulfilling) thing that we ever get to do.
Pastor Richard Haar

Bible Reading: Colossians 3:15-17 (NLT)