There is a kind of personality we are all familiar with, I’m sure—a kind of personality that is impetuous and impulsive, prone to act in ways that are spontaneous and ill-thought-out. It’s the personality of Simon Peter whom we know so well from the pages of Scripture—the one of the twelve disciples who stepped overboard to attempt to walk on water, the one who exclaimed, “not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!,” the one who drew his sword to protect his Savior, and the one who, when he saw him after his resurrection, immediately threw himself overboard to swim for shore. We love him for his brashness, for his boldness, for his uninhibited nature.

I have reflected before on how Jesus was the first to identify some precious quality in Peter, for as soon as he met him, Jesus said, “‘You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas’ (which means Peter).” Peter and Cephas both mean “rock,” which tells us that from the very first Jesus saw a quality of sturdiness and steadiness to this man. He understood that bound up in an impetuous nature were virtues that would establish him as a leader among leaders in the early church.
I once read an author compare this personality type to a wild river that runs through a mountain range. The river runs swiftly but erratically, fierce in its power and dangerous in its wildness. Yet one day a settler arrives at a spot along its course and sees that he can make use of the river’s energy. And so he builds a flume to restrain the river and direct it. At the point where the water runs fastest he builds a watermill to generate power. Some of the river he directs through channels where the waters, now moving gently, can irrigate fields and cause crops to grow. Another portion of the river he directs to a spot where a town will spring up and where the residents can drink from cool, fresh streams. What was once a force for destruction is now a force for good and for growth.
And in that way, God loves to use impetuous personalities. As people repent of their sins and profess their loyalty to him, he does not eradicate their personalities as if he created them wrong in the first place or as if there is nothing within them he can use or redeem. Rather, he channels their personality, he redirects it, masters it, perfects it. Though he does sanctify his people, he does not completely destroy and then recreate them in such a way that they are all the same. As he uses the wise and the simple, the great and the small, the gregarious and the taciturn, he uses the impetuous as much as the cautious. He tames and tempers their personality in such a way that instead of doing harm it does good and instead of leaving a trail of destruction it leaves a trail of love and service. He takes the boldness, he takes the passion, he takes the zeal, and he directs it to his own precious purposes.
So if you have a personality like Peter’s, take heart. Take heart, for as God used him, he can and will use you. And he will use you not apart from your personality, but through it. He created you, he loves you, and he will use you.
If you have a child or spouse or another loved one who has that kind of brash personality, be thankful. Ensure that you do not assume such a personality is in any way inferior to its opposite. You may need to urge that this personality is tempered by a measure of caution just as a cautious personality may need to be tempered by a measure of boldness. But know that God uses all kinds of people to carry out his good and glorious purposes. Embrace the personality rather than squelching it.
It is God’s pleasure to use us in his service just as he used Peter. And while he does shape and sanctify us, he does not destroy us along the way. The one who gives boldness to the timid gives patience to the impulsive. The one who gives courage to the person prone to inactivity gives caution to the person prone to spontaneity. He uses who we are to carry out his purposes and bring blessing to the world.

We can tell a lot about ourselves by what we long for, by what we desire, by what we dream about, by what consumes our thoughts when we lie in the quiet darkness of night. You can tell a lot because what consumes our thoughts is a good indication of what consumes our hearts which is, in turn, a good indication of what we value most. If we dream of riches it shows that we have set our hope on money. If we dream of sexual pleasures it shows that we have raised sex to the status of an idol. And so we should often ask ourselves: What do I dream about? What do I long for? And what does this tell me about myself? Our God or “gods” are never far from our desires.

I don’t think I’m wrong in suggesting that few of us spend much time dreaming about Heaven. Most of our longings extend little farther than what we can see, have, and experience here on earth. And yet the consistent message of the Bible is that there are treasures and blessings beyond this earth that are so beautiful, so wonderful, so desirable, that the best of earth’s joys will pale by comparison.
This longing is the subject of Stephen Morefield’s book Always Longing: Discovering the Joy of Heaven. He, like so many of us, has always known that Heaven is good, but has still preferred to focus his thoughts and desires on this world and this life. He has always known that Heaven is a wonderful place, but he still didn’t want to go there because he had other plans, other dreams, other things he wanted to accomplish. “Sports, college, ministry, marriage, kids—those sorts of things. I had too much to do to want to go to Heaven. I also had a healthy fear of death. Who wants to die? Not me. No thanks.”
But as time went on he came to understand some very good news. “I was completely wrong about Heaven, and you probably are too.” He was wrong in what he understood about Heaven and wrong about wanting to be here more than he wanted to be there. He realized that we live best when Heaven consumes our thoughts and fills our desires. We live best when we live with a longing to be absent from the body and home with the Lord.
He begins the book by asking simply, does Heaven matter? He follows Randy Alcorn in showing that we were made for both a person and a place, and “that person, experienced in the presence of that place, will meet every single need we could ever have. Complete satisfaction is possible. All of our longings tell us it must be. But only in this divine gift of a person and a place will we ever find it.”
The second chapter faces the reality that we must all die and considers what happens after death. He balances the horror of death with the beauty of finally being in the presence of God. “For the Christian, death is used by God for a greater gain, despite its wicked advent.” He distinguishes here between the intermediate Heaven—Heaven as it is now—and the New Heaven and New Earth—Heaven as it will be after Christ’s return. He dedicates one chapter to considering how history will end—a chapter (and follow-up appendix) that is beautiful but may not make him a lot of friends among those who hold to a Dispensational perspective. As the book continues he considers where Heaven is, what we will do there, and the posture we should maintain as we await our time. The final chapter deals with the reality of Hell which leads to a conclusion that includes a strong call to trust in Christ.
We would be lying if we said that this world is only full of sorrows and woes, for that is not the case. We experience many blessings here and enjoy many pleasures. And it is good and honoring to God when we embrace them. Yet these pleasures are not meant to captivate us, but to point us to the fulfillment of our longings—to the presence of that person in that place. And this book does a commendable job of directing our longings in just that way. “Cheer up,” Morefield says. “And as you cheer up, make sure you don’t turn back, sit down, or tread water. Press on. Hit heaven in stride. Jesus’s grace is not only enough to save you now; it’s enough to bring you home and to do so with joy and faithfulness. Run, and run hard. And as you press on, smile. You were made for a person and a place, and both of them will be yours by his grace alone.” And that is worth longing for…
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God has graciously chosen to initiate relationship with human beings who, left to themselves, deny his power and even his very existence. He does this through revelation—through revealing himself to us.
But what is it that he reveals about himself? According to Erwin Lutzer, it is his character, his nature, and his will. I’ve heard it said that character is who you are when no one is looking. God reveals himself as someone who existed long before there was anyone looking, and then as now, his character was marked by love. He has always existed in a loving relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We might say his nature is his attributes, or the qualities of his “godness.” And his will includes his desires for humanity. As the one who created us, he is the one who has the right to tell us how we ought to live.
How does God reveal all of this? Through what we call general revelation and special revelation. General revelation is what God reveals to all of humanity through what has been made and can be observed by all. Special revelation is what God reveals through special means—most notably through Scripture and its revelation of Jesus Christ. Praise God that, in his grace, he has chosen to reveal himself to us!