I’m not the man I used to be. Neither am I the man I will one day be. And yet, I am the man I used to be, and will forever be that man. The passage of time experienced by us is a great mystery, an entering into the mystery of being and becoming. We have, all of us, a continuity of consciousness. My memories are mine, though they sometimes star a me with a full head of hair and a 32 inch waist. I don’t have those two things anymore, but somehow I’m the same guy as the one who did have them.
Continuity and discontinuity are part and parcel of where not only we are headed, but the whole of the universe. The resurrection promises not that our old bodies will be banished to history’s ash heap when we get sparkly new ones. No, the promise is that our bodies, these bodies will be raised again, only now, raised incorruptible. The same is true of our planet. It will not be decimated, with a fresh new earth waiting in the wings. Instead, like us, it will be remade, renewed, redeemed, reborn.
Can you imagine a world that is utterly untouched by the ravages of sin? Not according to the Word of God. It tells us that eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man the things which God had prepared for those who love Him (I Corinthians 2: 9). Still harder for me is to imagine me without sin. The wonder of it all is not just that I will be without sin, but that I will be me. I will be, in fact, more me than I have ever been. Real me, true me, me the way I was meant to be. If you are in Christ, the same promise is true of you.
Each Sunday morning I am blessed to teach at the church I belong to, Pine Hills Church in Fort Wayne a class titled “Discovering Jesus.” My job is to speak to the assembled about the person and work of Jesus. I’m grateful for the opportunity to teach on such lofty matters. My goal, however, is that each of us would walk away not just knowing more but loving more, trusting more, rejoicing more. I want us to all be bowled over by the glorious truth that we are the children of God. When we pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, I want us to be knocked down a second time to consider the next promise, that we will be like Him (I John 3:1-3).
Long trips can prove wearisome. We often feel like we’ll never arrive. Our new selves seem so distant that we can’t imagine it will still be us when we get there. But it will. He has promised. He has assured us that having begun a good work in us, that He will carry it through to the day of Christ Jesus. I’m not the man I used to be. Neither am I the man I will one day be. And yet the man I once was, and the man I will be, that’s me. Better still, it’s Him. Then I will be, for the first time ever, fully me.