I was recently reading an article in a Leadership magazine and one of the writers had recently heard Dr. Paul Brand speak and had included a quote from Dr. Brand’s speech. I had known of Dr. Brand because he co-authored a book with Phillip Yancey… but I was floored by how much this particular quote resonated with me on a personal level:
“I remember well when I was at my physical peak. I was 27 years old and had just finished medical school. A group of friends and I were mountain climbing and we could climb for hours. For some people, when they cross that peak, for them life is over.
“I remember well my mental peak, too. I was 57 years of age and was performing groundbreaking hand surgery. All of my medical training was coming together in one place. For some people, when they cross this peak, for them life is over.
“I’m now over 80 years of age. I recently realized that I’m approaching another peak, my spiritual peak. All I have sought to become as a person has the opportunity to come together in wisdom, maturity, kindness, love, joy, and peace. And I realize when I cross that peak, for me, life will not be over, it will have just begun.”
It reminded me of a promise that I have clung to in the past… and continue to do so: God is never finished with me. I am becoming painfully aware that I am past my physical prime (mostly my fault). I love learning and growing… but I know that over time, even the mind slows down a little bit. But spiritually speaking, God will never be ‘finished’ with me. There will never come a time where He will wash His hands of me and say… ok, I can’t do anything more with this Josh character.
I remember taking a graduate class on the life and thought of John Wesley… and one of the things we covered was ‘Wesley’s Order of Salvation.’ I found this study to be really fascinating… especially the part about ‘glorifying grace.’ Which Wesley would say is when we enter heaven… and we are finally restored to the natural image of God… we will be resurrected in a new body… but that for all eternity, we would still grow in love and knowledge of God.
Wesley would say that even in heaven, God isn’t done working on us. We may become morally perfect… there may not be any more sadness or sin or whatever… but there will still be opportunities for growth in our understanding of who God is. Mind you, I have no idea what heaven is going to be like… I am not pretending to know how all this will work out… but this type of thinking really resonates with my spirit.
Even in eternity… God will not be done with me. Even in eternity, I will continue to learn… my understanding of Him will continue to deepen. I will continue to be stunned by the new ways that He displays His love… I will continue to be shocked by His immensity… and all this will happen without sin clouding my vision. I will finally get to see/experience God the way He always intended for us to see/experience Him. Even in that sinless state, even with all of eternity, we will never ‘get to the bottom’ of God’s infinite love, holiness, and sovereignty… and I’ll be honest… I wouldn’t want it any other way...
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16)
