7 Sins That May Hinder God's Plan for You in Your RetirementSample

4. GOING YOUR OWN WAY hinders God’s Plan for Your Retirement

The way to overcome sins of PRIDE, WORRY, and DISCONTENT is to find God’s will for your retirement and get busy doing those good works He has lined up especially for you to do:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:10

Even if you’ve conquered the sins of PRIDE, WORRY, or DISCONTENT in your life, what if you’re not even trying to uncover God’s plan for your retirement years? How will you ever get around to doing the “good works” that He has prepared for you if you’re not even looking or listening for His plan?

Maybe you’re just coasting into your retirement, following wherever the wind may blow…. Isn’t that kind of like finishing high school as a teenager and then just not making a plan for anything? Very likely, you didn’t do that but did spend some time searching or planning for the rest of your life. This then developed into some sort of goal or plan or expanded on an interest that you thought you could grow into (and live from).

In the same way, shouldn’t your transition into retirement also have some sort of plan? Now that you’re a good deal older than when you finished high school, aren’t you also a bit wiser on how to go about finding that plan? And, shouldn’t God figure into your planning also? After all, it’s only a matter of time before you meet Him – and then what will you have to show Him regarding how you used the talents and gifts He gave you for your retirement years?

This is why the idea that you can just cruise into retirement, GOING YOUR OWN WAY, without trying to find God’s Plan is not right. In fact, it is sinful to just ignore God’s Plan and go your own way.

Scary stuff, right?

So what to do about it? Find God’s plan, of course. One of my most popular reading plans is called “5 Steps to Know God’s Will - What the Bible Says” and it might just be the next best step you can take for your retirement. We won’t go into details here, but the 5 steps are as follows:

1. Read the Bible
2. Pray
3. Seek wise counsel
4. Check your motivation
5. Wait, listen & watch

You can check out the 5-step reading plan later, but for now, let’s reflect on today’s verses to get some perspective.

Remember the 2nd stanza of the Lord’s Prayer? Maybe you missed it, but look again at what it is asking for, and how that relates to finding your purpose for retirement as part of God’s plan for this world:

...Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven – Matthew 6:10

and then add my very favorite verse in the whole Bible to the mix:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:2

Praying for God’s kingdom to come. Renewing your mind to find God’s will.

It’s really time to get with the program that God has for you and stop GOING YOUR OWN WAY.