What will we become?

We are already God’s children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is (1 John 3:2).

ISPENT my birthday this year at a conference with my husband and some friends. At the end of the conference, I enjoyed taking some time to talk with an acquaintance that is a year younger than I am. As we chatted, he said, “The older I get, the more I realize I haven’t accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish by now.” Then he wistfully remarked, “I may never accomplish it.”

His comment reminded me that as I age, I inch toward death. And the truth is, I will never be all I dreamed of becoming in this life. Life has a way of upending and preventing some of our heartfelt aspirations. Even if we live past the age of 70, most of us will not have enough time, resources, or energy to do everything we want to do. And if allowed to fester, these realities about the brevity and limits of life can elicit a deep and pervasive sorrow the older we get.

But thankfully, believers in Jesus can rejoice in the knowledge that this life is all about relationship, not accomplishment. In John 11:25 Jesus tells us, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying.” I may not do all the things I’d like to during my days here on earth. Yet death doesn’t finish us off. You and I, each of us, are God’s works of art — masterpieces of His making (Ephesians 2:10). He loves us passionately (1 John 3:1). So make no mistake, God will complete His purposes for me and you and the entire church (Philippians 1:6). As John wrote, “We are already God’s children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears” (1 John 3:2). In His perfect timing, God will reveal what we are to become!