Retirement, A Curse Or A Blessing

Service on Sunday was great and we had none other than our very own Teshie Nungua Area Head, Aps. Dr. Alfred Koduah visiting PIWC Graceland. Aps. Dr. Koduah blessed the congregation with the word for the day climaxing the Pension Week Celebration. He spoke on the topic retirement, a curse or a blessing.

Speaking on the topic retirement, he mentioned it was very necessary to prepare for retirement despite one’s age. He further stated that many have thought that retirement was not Biblical, more so when a pastor’s retirement was announced. However, he helped the congregation understand the Biblical basis for retirement.

Elaborating on numbers 4:3, he stated that there was a time for entry into the service of God and there was a time to go out of service; this had been established even in days of the old testament. The Levites were expected to start serving in the tent of meeting at age 30 and expected to retire by age 50. In chapter 8 verse 23 however, the entry had been reduced from 30 to 25 and it further reduced to age 20 in the time of King David (1 Chronicles 23:24-27). These reductions were due to the fact that more Levites were needed and their work was physically demanding. God recognized physical limitations and allowed people to retire, hence the Biblical basis for retirement.

Practically speaking, Aps. Dr. Koduah stated that everything that has a beginning has an end. He also mentioned that there are things in this world that will not experience change such as God, His word and the devil, however, our bodies were not part of these constants. “At the beginning of your life, you are carried from the hospital and after your life has ended, you are carried back into the hospital” he added. Our bodies start to decline at age 40 and by age 60 the decline is quite significant.

He mentioned that at age 50-60, individuals start to reflect on their lives, acquired properties and their use. They tend to share a lot at this stage since the acquired properties and items are of little use to them and would be of literally no use to them when they have transitioned from this physical world.

Looking at the patriarchs in scripture, Aps. Dr. Koduah mentioned that Isaac blessed his children when he was much older, Jacob did same, Joseph blessed the children of Israel, David did not hesitate to pass on power when he felt his strength waning and Moses prayed for Joshua to take over from him. Joshua however, could not trust the generation after him like Moses had trusted him and the nation suffered because of it; this, Aps. Dr. Koduah believed this was a failure on Joshua’s path. Jesus also left, but made the comforter available to his disciples in the person of the Holy Spirit.

He challenged the youth to always plan for the future, even retirement. He charged them to spend less money indulging the pleasures of this life and invest into more tangible things such as purchasing lands for building their homes and marriage. He also charged them to make plans for marriage to avoid marrying late so they can enjoy their marriage life better.

Concluding, he mentioned retirement can be a blessing depending on an individual’s preparedness. Pastor Agyapong led prayers after Aps Dr. Koduah ended the sermon. It was truly a wonderful time of fellowship!