I retired from the local church pastorate this year. That has required a mental adjustment. On the one hand, I no longer have the early hours and long days of pastoral care and planning. On the other hand, I am still called to be a steward of my time and servant of my Lord Jesus, seeking first His kingdom.

Last week we looked at the race that is the Christian life. We press on toward glory. Denying ourselves and taking up our cross, we grow in holiness. Through the indicative of union with a risen and reigning Christ, we live out the imperative of living as ones dead to sin and alive in Christ. We who are light in the Lord are to be light, reflecting all that is good and right and true.

That race is run from conversion to life’s conclusion when Christ is fully formed in us. It defines our earthly pilgrimage. We press on with all His strength. The finish line is death’s door.

That race can be said to be run in stages. Paul alludes to stages when he speaks of older men and women, young men and women, and children (Titus 2). A note in the Faith Life Study Bible says the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates divided the human lifespan into seven stages: child (0-7), boy (8-14), young man (22-28), man (29-49), old man (50-56), and elderly man (57+). I find myself in the last stage, the final leg of the race set before me.

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