July 19th, 2021: God Will Bring Us to Completion

 

Have you ever asked what this man is thinking? It looks like he is ready to call it a career. We don't see his facial expression, but we can guess he is just pondering on what's left in his life. I have met many people in his position. They worked hard all their lives, and then everything came to a stop. What he is thinking about might have to do with some of the following.

Relationships that he has made and lost over other years. He thinks about people he will miss for a long time, and people who have lost contact with him. He is thankful for many people who have taught him many lessons both about life and work. He might also have some regret about how he treated some of them.

He looks back so that he can look forward. He still wants to contribute to society. He is retired at sixty-five, but he also starts a new journey of life. He wants to be active and involved. He has some sense of excitement and apprehension at the same time. He might be thinking about how to use his experience to benefit the generations that come after him.

To pay attention to the needs of his soul. He is aware that every day he has now is a gift from God. He asks more and more questions about the needs of his soul. Somehow life is less and less physical to him. He feels more removed from material entanglement. He thinks about what the rest of his life means as he ponders on the notion of death.

Philippians 1:6 

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

Psalm 71:5-9 

"For you are my hope, Lord God, my security since I was young. I depended on you since birth, when you brought me from my mother’s womb; I praise you continuously. I have become an example to many that you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise and your splendor daily. Don’t throw me away when I am old; do not abandon me when my strength fails."

Philippians 3:13-14 

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."