Ageless ...

 “Respect your elders.”  This societal mantra (also believed to be supported in Leviticus 19:32) is something older folks tend to try to drill into younger folks, reasoning that older folks have earned it.  Scripture tells us to “honor our father and mother” (Exodus 20:12), but it also says “a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6) and “unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 18:2-4).  One of Israel’s greatest prophets Samuel began his ministry at the age of seven, and continued it until his death when he was described as being “very old”.  Age, it would seem, carries with it various societal and spiritual implications.  But how do I respect my elders when I cannot determine who they are?  And how do I become like a little child, if everyone around me looks just like I do?  What impact will age have, in a destiny, where age and all the signs we associate with it, become irrelevant?  After all, our destiny it to be ageless …

Our embrace of evil has brought with it the greatest of all inhibitors to the state which God created us for; evil has brought with it a termination to our life span.  It was not God’s design that we should get old and die.  In the Garden of Eden, God created for us the tree of life.  This very real tree provided fruit which served not only for every need our bodies would have to convert food into energy (with zero waste byproducts), but also as a symbol to point out that all life originates with God.  It was in fact God’s original design that our life span would indeed be ageless.  It was only after our embrace of evil, that our condition (i.e. physical, mental, moral, and spiritual) would be degenerative and require a point of termination.  Had Eve remained with Adam, or had Adam trusted God enough to save Eve after her fall, we might never have known the knowledge of age and death.  Both Adam and Eve were created into perfection, which included the “perfect” age or level of maturity we would measure them by.  The right height, weight, and appearance – marks by which we measure age – would have all been consistent with the standards of perfection that God setup.  In point of fact, we do not know how long they lived in Eden before the fall (though we assume it was relatively “brief”).  But they could have been there for 10 days or 10 decades and their appearances would have been unaltered by time. 

The process of the growth from birth to maturity however was something that preceded evil.  Even before our species fell into evil, God’s command to everything He had created including us was to “be fruitful and multiply”.  Procreation was therefore a cycle of life that God had built into every creation of life He made, and it was an expectation it would continue.  Babies would be born, and grow to the perfect level of maturity, but that is as far as aging would ever be relevant.  This includes baby birds, baby fish, baby mammals, but it would also have included the process of germination for plant life as well.  Anything that could procreate was directed to procreate.  And once again scripture does not point out a cap on this process.  God does not say, go out and have exactly one child, or one baby bird, or plant one more tree.  It appears His intent was for His creations to fill our world.  But this brings up an interesting point, why not simply do it Himself?  He could have created the perfect number of fish to fill all the lakes and streams and bodies of water so that procreation was not necessary.  He could have filled the skies with the right number of birds, and planted the right amount of foliage to populate our planet from end to end.  Even with man, He could have made several couples, or perhaps an entire nation at once.  But He did not.  Instead it appears, He “seeded” our world with His creation, and within the design of His creation, by intent, He made procreation a part of our process. 

Had Adam and Eve never sinned or broken trust with God, they too would have procreated with Cain, Abel, and Seth having been born into our perfect world in the perfect process of procreation.  In fact it is only identified after we broke trust with God that “pain” would be a part of the procreation process.  Had we never sinned, the process of birth would have been completely devoid of pain.  It might even have been one of pleasure (you know like the one at conception).  Regardless, scripture does not tell us that Adam and Eve were meant to only make 3 sons, or that they stopped with only 3.  Logic dictates that they were giving birth to daughters as well, and probably had a significant number of children after Seth and before the effects of aging finally set in.  Both our original parents lived well into their 900’s after all.  Scripture further places no pre-conceived ideas about when (if ever) procreation should have stopped.  Using our human logic, we would naturally assume the goal was populate only our world.  But then that is based merely on human limitations.  Just to look into the sky at night, is to see with the naked eyes, stars beyond counting.  Each star could have a system of planets associated with it, much like our own.  In the perfection of heaven, it is possible each couple united in marriage could travel to a distant world and begin populating it all over again.  Just to fill up the ones in this galaxy might take us “forever”.  Adding to that number, how long it would take to fill up another galaxy or another, or perhaps even an entirely parallel universe, etc.;  the point is simply that without constraining growth to human limitations, the process of procreation could be as infinite as the years we were intended to live.

It would appear then, that a return to the state of perfection we were intended to be, would be a return for each of us to the “perfect” age, and uniquely personal “perfect” appearance each of us was designed for.  Children might still be born, and age to “maturity”, but upon reaching maturity they become ageless.  In that perfect state of maturity, the ability to distinguish between mother and daughter and sister and wife and friend becomes impossible based on appearances.  Perhaps then, honoring my mother, is not just about recognizing a woman who appears older than me, but about how I treat the woman who gave birth to me.  Perhaps it does not matter how old my mother is, in terms of how I honor her and show her love in the world that is to come.  Her age will impact her in this world of pain, and so while here I may tailor how I show my love to her to account for the impacts of aging.  In heaven, however, and for the eternity of time we will spend together, honoring her will take a bit different approach.  Loving and honoring her in a unique way will set her apart as my mother.  From our appearances (other than perhaps family resemblance) you could not tell if she were my mother, or my daughter, or my sister.  Perhaps this was one of the intentions of God in the first place, that the distinctions we use today on how we love each other might give way to broader concepts of what family is, in the perfect destiny of heaven.

Indeed it might be very difficult to distinguish who is my mother, sister, daughter, relative or friend in the perfection that is heaven.  The only real way to know might be how we treat each other.  But then, in the perfection of heaven, even that might make the differences indistinguishable.  Love after all, and service to others, is the guiding principle of the government of heaven and character of God.  Expressions of love to others would be constant, intense, and passionate in the perfection of heaven, making the relationships between one person and another hard to discern by sight alone.  Perhaps this was by intent.  Perhaps this is what God had in mind for us all along.  Perhaps this is what it means to be part of the “family” of God, that our actual blood lines make nearly no difference at all, in who we call family and in how we treat them.  In the perfection of heaven, my own daughters and son, will be loved by you as much as they are loved by me.  In point of fact, you would do anything you could to bring joy to them, as I would do for your children.  In this sense, our families are immediately blended, without hesitation, regret, or fear.  You holding my child is as natural as me holding yours.  There are no fears that are tied to evil intentions, motives, or actions as in the perfection of heaven these cease to exist.  Through the process of recreation we are made into something new, not only absent sin and evil and slavery to self, but someone who is able to love without ceasing or distinction.

Only one relationship may remain distinct in the perfection of heaven, and that may be husband and wife.  Again like here on earth, the only way to discern this relationship from others, is based on how we behave, and how we treat each other.  A ring does not make one married; fidelity does, love does, commitment does, sacrifice does, trust does, honest and open communication does.  In heaven, if it is the wish of our Lord for us to continue His designs of procreation and family units as He originally setup in the garden of Eden, I expect each of us might find ourselves in a perfect pairing.  I do not think our Lord would separate a couple like Adam and Eve in the perfection of heaven, because subsequent generations steeped in the selfishness of evil have made a mess and a mockery of the concept of marriage.  It would not be fair to part Adam from Eve, because we have made commitments to more than one spouse over the course of our selfish lives.  Nor would I expect, that Eve was supposed to be the perfect mate for anyone other than Adam, and he for her.  That marriage was created in perfection, and I would expect it would continue in the perfection that is to come.  No doubt there will be a lot of work from our God, in cleaning up the messes we have made of relationships and marriages in our world of sin.  But that does make this work impossible to complete, and perfectly accepted by us when it is.  To be willing to give even our desires, our romances, and our commitments to God is a key part of the process of re-creation, and allows God to do with us as He originally intended, not be constrained with what we have messed up.

To be ageless then is to lose the physical distinctions that set us apart, and to see each other regardless of our bloodlines as equal, and as equal opportunities to love.  Our families are destined to be so much larger than we see them today, not simply because in heaven I may be introducing myself to my mother’s - mother’s - mother’s - mother for more generations than I am currently able to count (back to Eve); but because more than just by bloodline, you will be my family by my choice and by your own.  My children will be as your children, and your children will be as my own.  I will wish to honor, not only my own mother, but yours as well.  How we treat each other in the perfection of heaven, in the perfection of love expressed, should work its way into our thinking about how we see each other in this world as well. 

Today, in the strength of our own humanity, we can accomplish none of this.  It is in that sense beyond idealistic.  But our limiter was never intended to be “human” strength and perspective.  We are destined to be measured by His power, by His perspectives; and we can accomplish these things by letting Christ change us from the inside out.  We can learn to reflect His love through us, instead of trying to originate love within us on our own.  We can learn to see each other through His eyes, instead of trying to mimic what He did on our own.  The secret to achieving the perfection of heaven in the here and now is not about what we conquer in ourselves, it is about what we surrender to Christ of ourselves.  Increased surrender of who we are, until we have given it all, will lead us to what He is able to do in us, and no longer will be constrained by “human” weakness.  Indeed His love reflected through us will become limitless as it becomes ageless…