I recently read the biography of John Adams by David McCullough. It is a wonderful book that I would highly recommend. I feel as if I know John Adams, one of the most important figures of the American Independence, better than most public figures of the present day.
John Adams’ later years in retirement stuck out to me as very enlightening. Even after the loss of 3 children and some of his grandchildren to premature deaths and the death of his “dearest friend” his wife Abigail he still had a love for life. He told his son, John Quincy Adams, late in life, “The perfectibility of man is to rejoice evermore.” He did not mean that man can be perfected in this life. What he meant was that to rejoice in everything is a quality that may be developed and it is a quality for which we, all people, should strive. Even though he compared his life to the life of Job of the Old Testament because of all the sufferings he had gone through he made a commitment to rejoice always. “Rejoice always!” is a direct quote from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 16.
John Adams lived to be 90 years old and he had a wisdom in his old age that many people of higher age have. I would challenge you to spend more time with those of advanced age. I spend 30 minutes every Sunday morning with a group of people that live in an assisted living center. We worship together and I see in them a joy that is hard to explain. Most of them have lost loved ones, most of them have many physical pains and illnesses all of them have lost their homes and yet they love to worship and hear God’s Word. It is a joy they have and display that can not be explained by things we see in this world. It is a joy that can only come from God. You see no matter the condition of their physical body, the spiritual body is as strong as ever. These people that I worship with love the Lord and they have made a commitment of their entire life to Jesus Christ. That is the only way we can “rejoice always.”
John Adams would applaud these wonderful people because of their rejoicing and I do too. It is my goal to learn from them and to live my entire life rejoicing because of what God has done.
