New Opportunities On The New Earth

New Opportunities on the New Earth

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.

— Luke 16:10

I haven’t been cheated out of being a complete person—I’m just going through a forty-year delay, and God is with me even through that. Being “glorified”—I know the meaning of that now. It’s the time, after my death here, when I’ll be on my feet dancing.^a

— JONI EARECKSON TADA

The subject of unfulfilled dreams and missed opportunities, as it relates to Heaven, is rarely discussed. But I think it’s worthy of further consideration. My heart resonates with the words of Robert Browning:

Grow old along with me!The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made.^b

Unfortunately, most older couples reach a time when those blissful words ring hollow. Disease, senility, incapacity, or accidents inevitably come and eventually bring death, and with it separation from one’s beloved spouse, a heartbreaking ending. Then Browning’s lovely words may haunt us. Old age and the “last of life,” romanticized in the poem, can be brutal, devastating, sad, and lonely.

Nanci and I both saw our dear mothers die, then watched helplessly as our fathers got old and frail in body and mind. From a human perspective, we felt hopeless because they’d been at their physical and mental peaks many years earlier, yet all they could do now was slide downhill.

But a biblical perspective corrected our natural misperceptions. Scripture informed us that God has a purpose for every person who’s still here—and that after a brief period of deterioration, our parents would go to Heaven and immediately be relieved of their hardships. Then, one day God will raise them, and they’ll have new minds and bodies, ready to start over again on a New Earth.

Consider cosmetic surgeries, implants, and other attempts at remodeling and renovating our crumbling bodies. We hold on to youthfulness with a white-knuckled grip. Ultimately it’s all in vain. But the gospel promises us eternal youthfulness, health, and beauty. It’s not ours now—but it will be, at the resurrection, which will be the true fountain of youth.

Peter Toon expresses the disappointment we often feel, and the hope we can have:

The most tragic strain in human existence lies in the fact that the pleasure which we find in the things of this life, however good that pleasure may be in itself, is always taken away from us. The things for which men strive hardly ever turn out to be as satisfying as they expected, and in the rare cases in which they do, sooner or later they are snatched away. . . . For the Christian, all those partial, broken and fleeting perfections which he glimpses in the world around him, which wither in his grasp and are snatched away from him even while they wither, are found again, perfect, complete and lasting in the absolute beauty of God.^c

Do you believe that God is big enough to fulfill your dreams?

When you experience disappointment and loss as you faithfully serve God, remember that the loss is temporary but the gains will be eternal. Every day on the New Earth will be a new opportunity to live out the dreams that matter most.

When we’re young, we dream of becoming astronauts, professional athletes, or great musicians. As we get older, our dreams shrink, and “realism” sinks in: We’ll never be able to fulfill most of our dreams. The death of idealism robs us of our youthfulness and vitality. We become cynical and lose the sense of awe and wonder our dreams once infused us with.

But when we realize that God calls us to be like children and that he’ll give us a new universe and unlimited time, then we suddenly “get it.” We realize we’ll yet have an opportunity to fulfill our dreams. In fact, we’ll develop bigger dreams than we ever had, and fulfill those, too. Our dreams will expand, not shrink.

When the Curse is reversed, shrunken dreams will be revived and enhanced. Perhaps that’s part of what it means to become like a little child and why childlikeness is necessary for Heaven. Children aren’t disillusioned, hopeless, and cynical. Their dreams are great and broad. They don’t list a hundred reasons why their dreams can’t come true. Their dreams fuel their imaginations and bring them joy.

At the end of Peter Jackson’s production of Tolkien’s Return of the King, Bilbo Baggins—extremely old and decrepit—is invited to board an Elven ship to sail from Middle Earth to Valinar (a sort of intermediate Heaven). He smiles, and a youthful energy returns to his eyes as he says, “I think I’m quite ready for another adventure.”

For the Christian, death is not the end of adventure, but a doorway from a world where dreams and adventures shrink to a world where dreams and adventures forever expand.

As we head toward our future on the New Earth, we’ll lose time and countless opportunities here—but we’ll regain them there. And the better we use our time and opportunity for God’s glory now, the greater will be our opportunities there (Luke 16:11-12; 19:17).

For believers, words more accurate than Robert Browning’s would be these: “The best is yet to be, the next of lives, for which the first was made.”

The last of our lives before we die is in fact not the last of our lives! We’ll go right on living in another place. And one day, after our bodily resurrection, we’ll live again on Earth, a life so rich and joyful that this life will seem impoverished in comparison.

Millions of years from now we’ll still be young.

Do you feel ready for the great adventure—the greatest adventure of your life—that awaits you on the other side of death?

Lord, help us to see the world ahead as a great adventure. Help us to realize that the best is yet to be—the next of lives, for which this first was made. Help us to loosen our white-knuckled grip on appearing young and embrace the promise of eternal youth through our bodily resurrection. Help us to trade in our worn-out dreams and accept in exchange the eternal dreams of the risen Christ. Your dreams for us, Lord, revealed in your Word, are so much greater than the little dreams we so often settle for. May we never be content with less than you offer and promise—and what you died to grant us.