I’m not suggesting it’s one of the bigger life challenges a person can face, but since 2021 the small talk I have with friends and acquaintances has become more complicated.

Prior to 2021, when they asked me “And what are you doing these days?”, the answer was pretty simple: “The same thing I’ve been doing for the last 30 years!” But in early 2021, things changed—I stepped down from my leadership job at Matthias Media.

So now when people ask me what I’m doing, I have to quickly assess whether they want the short answer or the long answer. The short answer glosses over some of the complexity and goes something like this: “I’m still part of the Matthias Media team, but it’s a voluntary role and not as full-time as it was”. The longer answer also references spending more time with my grandchildren and my parents, increased involvement at church, helping the ministry at Campus Bible Study, getting more exercise, and writing.

I suppose because most people know me through Matthias Media, it’s the writing that they often pick up on: “Oh, and what are you writing at the moment?”

I’ll come back to why I am talking about my ‘retirement’ later, but first let me tell you about the writing project I’ve been working on over recent months.

My Matthias Media colleague and good friend Marty Sweeney and I have been working on a set of Bible readings or devotions (i.e. Bible readings with a little bit of commentary).¹ The slightly odd thing about this set of readings is that we start towards the very end of Revelation and work backwards through the New Testament to early in Matthew.

Why do we do that? Because it seems to us that throughout much of the New Testament, it is the end—the great vision of where we are ultimately heading—that shapes so much of how we are to live now.

I think we started with something like 18 Bible passages we wanted to include. But we kept finding more passages that contributed to the goal of setting out both the destination and the nature of the journey for Christian people. By the time the deadline came for submitting the manuscript, it had grown to 26 readings.

However, as I keep reading my Bible, I bump into this idea all the time—that how we live life now is driven by our hope. And so I keep finding more passages it would be terrific to include in the book. Indeed, the New Testament seems absolutely immersed in this future perspective (in a way that I don’t always hear reflected in our pulpits—but that’s a topic for another day!).

Let me give you an example I came across today. Hebrews 6:11–12:

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (ESV)

I think the NIV translation may be a little clearer:

We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

The characteristic the writer wants to see in a Christian’s life is diligence (or earnestness, or resolve), not sluggishness or laziness.

It’s the effort the marathon runner puts in as she sees the stadium looming as the end of the race gets closer. Even in her tiredness, she picks up the pace,² sensing the finishing-line glory that awaits.

That is, our diligence is driven by our hope, and so we keep up the pace right to the end. We long for our inheritance, and that keeps us striving, not just for our own sake but also to serve others around us (6:10) to help them get to the same destination.

And it’s this idea of keeping up our diligence—our earnestness or pace—that brings me back to my ‘retired’ life.

It is such a temptation for me to be lazy and sluggish as a more senior Christian. I suspect many of my peers are tempted by this too. We’ve done our time. Zeal is mainly for the young. Now is the season to slow down, take things easier, ‘cruise’ a bit, and enjoy this final leg of our journey.

There is an element of truth in some of that thinking. Physically, I can’t do what I used to do. I don’t have as much energy. (In fact, that’s one of the realizations that led to me stepping down in 2021.)

But even with a body that creaks and groans more than it used to, there are still plenty of ways I can be diligent as I serve the Lord.

So whether, like me, you have attained your government-issued Seniors card, or whether you are a younger saint, let me finish with a universally applicable exhortation from the Apostle Paul:

Do not be slothful in zeal [i.e. earnestness/diligence], be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. (Rom 12:11)

Ian

1. Hopefully to be published in early 2026.↩

2. The Greek word for earnestness (σπουδή) has a connotation of haste, e.g. Mark 6:25, Luke 1:39. The idea of picking up the pace and hardening the resolve when we see the stadium is perhaps a similar idea to Hebrews 10:25: “encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near”.↩