And I heard a voice in the heavens above me saying, “Write this down: . . . Yes, says the Spirit, they are blest indeed, for now they shall rest from all their toils and trials; for their good deeds follow them to heaven!” (Rev. 14:13, TLB).
When the followers of Jesus die, “their good deeds follow them to heaven.” Their influence for good does not stop at the edge of the grave – it goes on and on and bless the world. A Christian mother may come to the end of her journey here on earth and feel that her life’s work is a failure, because her boys and girls have never turned to God and lived a Christian life. But her death may lead a daughter – who has held out against all her pleadings – to decision. A son finds his mother’s Bible and reads the verses underlined with pencil and discolored with tears, while the Spirit speaks to his heart. He can’t resist, and surrenders to Jesus. The mother’s works follow her. She “being dead yet speaketh” (Heb. 11:4). By her remembered example, at some time of crisis, her boy makes a decision for Christ, and one of her daughters turns to God for help.
Heaven never forgets a mother’s prayers for a wandering boy. In a faraway land in the midst of a great battle, his mother’s words come to him: “Someday, when you are in great trouble, if you call on your mother’s God, you will find help. I will pray for you as long as I live.” He sees that wrinkled face, and those worn hands folded in prayer. God has not forgotten her last petition: “Oh, Lord, I put him in Thy hands. Bring him to Jesus at last.” And there in a foxhole, he turns to his mother’s Saviour. Her works do follow her, and God answers her prayers.
It will be a wonderful reunion when in the presence of Christ, by the beautiful gate of the City of God, a mother receives the rewards of her labors with “all the children in.” Yes, it’s true: “They shall rest from all their toils and trials; for their good deeds follow them to heaven!” A mother’s prayers follow her children in the world, and on through the gates of the New Jerusalem into the eternal world to come. And that is good news for every Christian mother – and father!
H.M.S. Richards Jr.; Daniel R. Guild,
The Best New Ever, May 12.
