Let’s talk about family.  Maybe not!  Wish I could report that our clan exhibits only peace and tranquility.  Not so.  However, we’re not alone, are we?  Hardly.

Sad to admit,  I’ve let down lots of family.  Please don’t ask them!  You may get an earful!  I’ve given big hurts through the years, with some of the same aimed directly at me.  I wonder about the greeting I’ll get at heaven’s family gates?  ‘Well done…’?  Or ‘what are you doing here?’

Consider  Revelation 14:13–“Then I heard a voice from heaven say,  ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’  ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.'”

When down-in-the-family-dumps, this verse is for you…and me.  In Jesus (here’s the key), when our time is up on earth, in Jesus we find ‘rest’.  And peace.  Burdens lift.  Sorrows cease.  Failures flee.  Sins given a swift kick-in-the-pants.  Joys dominate.

But only if you’re ‘in the Lord’.  In Jesus.  Being His.  Committed to the Son of God.  Born anew.  That’s you?

In addition,  we’re told that, if we’re in Jesus, we’ll bring something with us to heaven.  Like all my vintage Yankee baseball cards?  No.  Too bad Mickey, Whitey and Yogi!  How about my Hull Pottery ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ ceramics collection?  Sorry, Charlie!  No can do.

But something much better–‘…for their deeds will follow them’ (Rev. 14: 13).  Anything we’ve done for Jesus, even things tiny as a mustard seed (Luke 13: 18-19), will accompany us to Heaven’s gates and beyond.  Whatever they may be, they’ll all be welcome in Paradise.  Each and every one.  Big or small.  Accompanying us to Jesus Himself.

Good deeds for Jesus’ sake will go with us through the valley of the shadow until we see Him face to face.  Talk about the red carpet treatment!

The more we do… Well, you get the point!  And the more the merrier!

Thank you, Jesus, for welcoming us into your presence.  Amen.