None of us knows how many years we will have on this earth. As I write this, I’ve been retired for more than seven years after working nearly thirty-eight years in my primary vocation. I still have opportunities to lead in our local church and presbytery, but haven’t led a team on a daily basis since I retired.
My wife Tammy remains active as a Bible Study leader in our church, and enjoys singing in the choir and helping out in the church office as needed. We often talk about being “used up for the Lord”, as long as we are physically and mentally able to do so.

Recently, Tammy, who has a passion for prayer, volunteered to take over our church’s prayer ministry. It’s been exciting to see how she has embraced this new responsibility, as she explores new ideas on how to support those in our church in prayer.
I too, recently accepted a new assignment. Our church denomination has an annual meeting, and one of the committee assignments is being responsible for recruiting and training the three hundred plus volunteers needed for the meeting. The week-long meeting is still nineteen months from now, so the primary task is building a strong volunteer subcommittee team.
It’s easy to look at retirement as just an extended vacation of traveling, playing golf and pickleball. And there is absolutely no problem with enjoying yourself in retirement with vacations, time with family, ballgames, concerts, etc., which we do. At the same time, especially as we look to a new year, if we are physically and mentally able to do so, we might ask the Lord how we can serve others – our churches, families, friends and communities. How can we use the skills, abilities and experiences we have been given to serve at this time of our lives?
Perhaps the best example of one who was used up for the Lord was Charles Spurgeon, a pastor in London from 1854 – 1891. I first read about all Spurgeon accomplished in his short life (he was used up, and died by the age of fifty-seven) in John Piper’s book A Godward Life in the article “Mountains are Not Meant to Envy – Awed Thoughts on Charles Spurgeon”. A few of the things that amazed me about Spurgeon were:

• His collected sermons fill sixty-three volumes, the largest set of books by a single author in the history of Christianity.
• He read six serious books a week, and John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress more than a hundred times.
• He added 14,460 people to his church membership and did almost all of the membership interviews himself.
• He founded an orphanage, edited a magazine, produced more than one hundred and forty books, responded to five hundred letters a week, and preached ten times a week in various churches as well as his own.
• He founded a pastor’s college and trained almost nine hundred men.

There may be only one Charles Spurgeon, but we can all pray “Lord, use us up!”  May all we do be for your glory!