Social Security's fiscal problems are growing not only because the age of access is too low, but because the baby boom bulge will leave millions of retirees supported by too few earners. If more Americans had a Christian worldview, more of us would work as long as we remain able. The elderly would inspire the young by example—I know one physically fit widow who insisted on mowing her own lawn well into her 80s—and contribute financially as well.

Piper says it well: "Finishing life to the glory of Christ means resolutely resisting the typical American dream of retirement . . . We are set free from the cravings that create so much emptiness and uselessness in retirement. Knowing that we have an infinitely satisfying and everlasting inheritance in God just over the horizon of life makes us zealous in our few remaining years here to spend ourselves in the sacrifices of love, not the accumulation of comforts."

 Marvin Olasky