Your Family for Eternity

“And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God. Revelation 5:9-10

The new Earth (eternity) will be a colorful place, not only in its kaleidoscope of God’s creative paintbrush at work in His new creation of our eternal home (read Hebrews 13:22-29 and Revelation 21-22), but in the people, the community of eternity, God’s purchased and adopted family, there will be a thoroughly representative diversity of the peoples who now cover the globe; all these people-communities will be fully represented in the new heavens and the new earth. And we will all speak the language of heaven and the new earth, which all its inhabitants will understand perfectly. We all grew up as individuals in a family, and we live in and work in and enjoy the fellowship of communities now. In the new heavens and the new earth the community will be our family, for this is God’s family, purchased for Him by the blood of His Son. Biology will no more be our connector in terms of familial relationships; we will be brothers and sisters with the rainbow of God’s family described in Revelation 5.
In my lifetime of ministry I have met and enjoyed the love of these diverse brothers and sisters from around the globe. Many I will not see again until we meet at Jesus’ feet in the future. But I will delight in their fellowship once again! As individuals we grow up in families, and families create communities. All this is taking place in a fallen sin-sick world, and because of this, individuals are broken, their families are far from whole, and these many broken families create  ravaged communities. We see the evidence of it around us every day in our culture. Its “Vanity Fair appearance continually gives the illusion of endless fun and entertainment, especially in the modernized world, but underneath it all the ruinous effect of sin is taking its inevitable toll on individuals. It will always catch up with all who are mesmerized by its glitter and enticing promise of endless ecstasy. However, and you can count on it, the illusion eventually and suddenly vanishes like the fog. Some respond to this verdict with the mantra, “So let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die! Unfortunately, tomorrow comes far more quickly than you plan or think, and when death occurs reality comes home to roost; what is before the still conscious mind and still seeing eyes is terrifying. Second chances have vanished, and choices made in the past and never repented of become permanent, and permanently punishing.
You have an opportunity now to impact your family and other families in your community for eternity. Individuals and families are able to change communities. The PAYH is a community of individual young men who represent many families. Our goal is not only to change the individual lives of these young men with an eternal result, but to minister to their families with the same goal. In turn we want those families to impact their community. We have seen this dynamic at work already, and we hope to see it multiplied. As an individual what is the transformative impact you have on your family and on your community? What is your family’s impact on the community in which you live? Does it float in the current of our “Vanity Fair culture? Or do you have a transformative witness and example that points them in the direction of your future family, the community of the new heavens and the new earth?
This is what your life needs to be engaged in now; it is the purpose for which you live as a Christian; it is your transformed calling as a believer of God and your acceptance of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Your family and your community is your mission field; it is your vocation. How many years of opportunity still are yours to use before The Night comes and your work is finished? Evaluate your life and your family and your community in light of eternal realities. The real of Revelation 5 is coming more quickly than you can imagine as you deal with the demands of today. But you have the ability and strength in Christ and the opportunity today to focus your life on what lies ahead in the formation of God’s eternal community and your own home within it. Capture that opportunity!