spiritual moments Archives

My grandson is also my brother

“But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” —Galatians 3:25–29

Last Sunday morning, I was privileged to watch my grandson announce his faith and be baptized. Sometimes it’s easy to recognize a moment in life that will easily become a special memory. I am proud of my grandkids often during the year, but I especially value the spiritual moments that have eternal value.

My relationship with my “grands” changes when they step into the Christian faith. I think I will always see them as my grandchildren this side of heaven. Spiritually, I now know that Merrick is also my “brother” as well as my grandson. But I can’t imagine thinking of him as a brother today. In Jesus, we are born again, which gives us a unique relationship with God and with everyone else in this world.

Everyone on earth is either a member of your eternal family or they are not. It’s not something I think about as often as I should. What will it be like when every relationship is with a family member in heaven?

Heaven’s family

Paul was trying to teach the Galatians the truth that our faith in Jesus changes everything. Jesus was born to earth and sacrificed himself on the cross for everyone’s sins, and through faith, they were “born again.” He taught about our heavenly relationships, saying, “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:25–29).

Heaven’s family will not be defined by hierarchies of:

Race
Status or profession
Gender

Heaven’s family will be defined by:

Faith in Jesus Christ
Having the same Father as everyone else
Knowing we are all equally and perfectly loved

Jesus told us we were to think of our fellow Christians as our brothers and sisters in Christ. I have to believe that is just for our time on earth. I think in heaven we will simply think of everyone there as a beloved member of our family. Everyone will simply be another of God’s children. Everyone in heaven will be someone who is greatly loved by their Father, and everyone else there.

Paul’s family on earth

It’s difficult to know what kind of family relationships Paul experienced while living on earth. We know that he had a nephew, his sister’s son, who exposed the plot against him, thereby saving his life (Acts 23:16–22). Otherwise, the Bible never mentions his brothers, sisters, parents, or cousins. Some believe that because Paul was a Pharisee, he likely had a wife. Most Pharisees were married. If Paul did have a wife, did he also have children? The fact that we don’t know is not unusual. When Paul became a Christian, he would have been declared “dead” in his Jewish faith and therefore dead to his fellow Jews. If he had a wife and family who didn’t want to leave their Jewish faith, they would have been free of any legal ties to Paul.

Or Paul could have been a single man with no other close family ties. Maybe that is why Paul felt free to leave Jerusalem and hunt for Christians in Damascus. Maybe Paul didn’t feel what most fathers would feel if they were torn from their wives and children to be thrown in prison. Maybe Paul didn’t understand the horrors of his actions until later. Did Paul’s family relationships on earth impact his volatile relationships later?

Paul was single during his Christian life and ministry (1 Corinthians 7:8). That fact could have enabled him to be a missionary, entirely devoted to his calling. But Paul led a jailer to faith and then guided his entire family to faith in Christ. Paul saw women come to faith in Christ even when it threatened their relationships on earth. Paul led Timothy to faith even though Timothy’s father wasn’t in the picture. Paul saw families come to faith together, and he saw family relationships that were broken by the Christian faith.

We can only guess about Paul’s family relationships on earth, but we know he understood and taught that our most important family was eternal. Paul wrote to the Galatians saying, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ’Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:6–7).

Paul saw his fellow Christians as his family on earth, maybe his only family on earth. He wanted Christians to understand what he knew about our eternal family. Paul taught that because of the Holy Spirit, we are a family of faith and God is our Father, our Dad. We will all inherit the promises of heaven and see everyone in heaven as our family for all eternity. We might be slaves on earth but we are joint heirs with Jesus in heaven.

Can we live and think today like we will live and think eternally?

As I thought about the fact that my grandson is also my brother in Christ, I realized how difficult it is to actually comprehend heavenly relationships. I have not met most of the people who read my words every week through this article, yet each Christian reader is already a member of my family.

How should that change the way I see the people around me? Should I just expect not to comprehend eternal realities? Or, should I live, think, and pray for people as who they will one day be in heaven, or soberly, think of them knowing that the only other eternal destiny is hell?

If we consider relationships from an eternal perspective, how would they change?

My grandson is also my brother in Christ. We will have an eternal relationship as fellow children of God, our Dad. Jesus provided that relationship to us through faith. I think Jesus would like us to consider people today from that eternal perspective.

Here is what I think about our eternal relationships. Paul wrote to the Ephesians with praise to God, saying, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20–21).

Our relationships in heaven will be abundantly better than we could even ask for or imagine on earth. Until then, let’s work hard to experience heaven on earth as often as possible. Amen?