While it has been given to you by grace alone in Christ alone, remember that God is working in you both to will and to do those things that are in a response to His grace. You have a path to walk in this life, it is a path of trust and obedience. Your rest is coming. Your ultimate rest is not today, and it may not be tomorrow, or for another sixty years, if the Lord tarries.

We probably all have bank accounts with savings, and maybe investments and 401(k)s. Wisdom would suggest that while we trust God we also should be good stewards and save. You want to have in inheritance—at the end of the road of your work life, you want to have a nest egg. This doesn’t make you greedy, in most cases it means you were prudent. But all of this should make us ask, where is my real inheritance? What is the real price? Where, or better, in whom is my true retirement.

Our life is hidden in Christ and so all true rest is in Him. As Hebrews 4:9 says “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” There is a true rest, dare we say a real retirement, for those of us who are in Christ, if we remain steadfast until the end.

Heb. 3:14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

What does this mean? While they may at times backslide and we all struggle with sin, the genuine believer perseveres to the end. You don’t punch off the clock early, you don’t get an early retirement where you coast into eternal life. We continue to strive in the faith, to press on as Paul speaks of it in Phil 3:14.

How do I live right now in light of my coming retirement in Christ?

(1) Are you in some kind of trial? Do not lose heart. Do not doubt the goodness of the grace of God and His kindness towards you in Christ. You belong to Jesus.

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