In a wide-ranging and deeply personal conversation, renowned lay theologian and apologist John Lennox has provided a striking reflection on ageing, spiritual resilience, and what it truly means to “finish well.”
Recently turned 82, Lennox spoke in regards to the pitfalls and possibilities of growing old while remaining faithful to the gospel in an interview recorded for the recent Sing! conference led by Keith and Kristyn Getty.
Lennox said the thought of “ending well” was not a formula but a lifelong posture, and he drew on Jesus’ words to Peter in John 21 and the prayers of King David to border the sober reality that even a respected Christian leader can falter late in life.
“The chief test of all shepherds is the best way they find yourself,” he said.
He warned: “It is perfectly possible for a one who has led an exemplary Christian life, been a pacesetter, to find yourself a silly old idiot.”
He argued that ending well requires humility, accountability, and an openness to honest correction.
One danger, he said, is that age can harden an individual into considering they not need advice: “We must surround ourselves by friends, family who’re close enough to us to be honest with us. As you become old, it is very easy to get into the mindset that you realize every thing and to shut down and never take heed to anybody. I’ve watched it repeatedly occur in folks that you’d have said would never occur to them. It can occur to any of us. And it’s something to fear in a way.”
Mr Lennox also stressed the spiritual discipline of remaining rooted in Scripture, prayer, and meaningful Christian fellowship — a habits that protect the center from becoming defensive, cynical, or spiritually stagnant.
“Some people need to found a church, run a church, and bury a church because they cannot let anything go … And most of us, unfortunately, have a predisposition to come back to a degree where we do not take heed to anybody anymore. We don’t take advice,” he said.
A central theme in Mr Lennox’s reflections was the lifelong call to witness. He believes that many Christians lose spiritual vitality once they stop sharing their faith.
“One of the things I feel that has sustained me through life is continually to be alive to opportunities to witness,” he shared.
“Constantly to consider that there are people on the market that you may refer to in regards to the Gospel … there’s nothing more life-giving than seeing other people experience what you yourself have seen. In other words, the enjoyment of salvation and starting to grow.”
Mr Lennox contrasted the shrinking horizons he sees in lots of non-religious elderly individuals with the expanding hope he observes in older believers. Research, he said, supports this difference in outlook.
He explained: “Generally speaking, older Christians, as they got nearer to death, their hearts and minds were getting excited in regards to the fact they were going to be with the Lord and it was expanding into eternity. Whereas non-Christian people, it was the following yr, the following month, the following day or the following hour. Their whole horizon was coming in. And this can be a very powerful thing, it seems to me.”
Music, he added, often becomes a strong anchor of hope near life’s end. He has seen dementia patients unable to form clear sentences suddenly capable of sing hymns learned in childhood.
“Because as our bodies begin to collapse, as mine has, the incontrovertible fact that there’s a latest world coming by which suffering shall stop and we’ll be in glory – that is not a trivial and a vague thing, that could be a colossal hope based on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead,” he emphasised.
“So, the hope for the long run will depend on the events of the past. Which is why we want to continually transmit this story.”
Asked to recall a memorable example of ending well, Mr Lennox spoke movingly of his close friend, evangelist Nigel Lee, who died at 58 after a widely influential ministry.
Lennox recalled that his friend had brought hundreds to Christ, and that when he tearfully shared he had little time remaining, he asked Mr Lennox to talk at his funeral.
Lee left Mr Lennox with a final charge: “Look, go and tell them to do what we did after we were students – to get into the Word prayerfully and spend real time on it and wait on God until his face appears.
“They will then have something to say,” Lee had told him — a counsel Mr Lennox has repeated often.
He added: “In order to witness, we should have something to say. And there are numerous people, sadly, within the pulpit today who don’t have anything to say. And you’ll be able to tell it inside the first few seconds once they begin to speak. And the explanation is that they haven’t done what the hymn book of the Bible tells us repeatedly, which is to attend on the Lord.”
He warned that the frantic pace of recent life makes it harder for believers to decelerate, reflect, and truly seek God.
Relying on quick technological shortcuts — including AI-generated sermons — risks hollowing out spiritual depth, he said, turning helpful tools into substitutes for real time in Scripture and prayer.
Mr Lennox emphasised that Christian hope is anchored not in sentiment but within the historical reality of Christ’s resurrection and His promised return.
He stated: “We would expect to see a big proportion of Christians – once they come to the tip or towards the tip that they’re so rejoicing in what’s ahead; that they confirm with their families, children, grandchildren who’re watching that ‘dad or granddad believes it’s real even at this stage.’”
He described biblical hope because the expectation of God’s coming, noting that each suffering believers and the natural world itself long for God to place things right.
Much of Scripture’s imagery of the world to come back, he observed, is expressed in negatives — “no crying … no pain … no suffering … no lies … no deceit … no sin” — since the positive realities are beyond human imagination.
Yet the relational hope stays unmistakable.
Reflecting on Jesus’ words to Martha at Lazarus’s tomb, he identified the importance of Jesus saying “your brother will rise again”, suggesting continuity and recognition within the life to come back.
Mr Lennox noted that this promise offers deep consolation to anyone mourning a spouse or loved one.
He warned, nevertheless, against dismissing biblical teaching on creation or the long run as outdated or speculative.
“You need a past to have an identity,” he remarked. “You need a future for hope.”
His own recent writing on the book of Revelation goals to revive that sense of anticipation.
As the conversation concluded, Mr Lennox was asked what he personally anticipates as he approaches his ninth decade.
His answer was immediate and full of the conviction that marked your complete discussion: “I’m looking forward to seeing the Lord and it will occur.”
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