Who is the oldest member of your family line that you can remember? I remember two of my great grandmothers. My dad has twelve great grandchildren and counting. He and mom started our family when they were teenagers, which gave him a headstart on building and knowing a large number of his descendants. I once read that it would be rare for anybody to remember their great great grandparents. Do you know someone who has?
Enoch’s great grandson was named Noah. Noah never knew Enoch because God had already taken his great grandfather some years before he was born. Between them were Methuselah who lived to the oldest age of all the members of this genealogy, and Lamech, Noah’s father. Noah never got to hear Enoch’s voice on this earth, but he surely heard his story. Perhaps Enoch’s close relationship with God inspired Noah to set himself apart as a righteous man in his wicked generation. God took note.
Our testimony is never safe until we get home. We know what we do in secret will be shouted from the rooftop. If we choose to live for God, some generation in the future may well know about our faithfulness. I remember writing a history paper in college. As I researched my family tree I found my great great grandfather in a census. Imagine my surprise to discover that his father had been a Baptist preacher. There on a shelf in the Waco Public Library, I found a book called “Old Time Tazewell.” Within its pages, I found a description of my 3 great grandfather, Rev. Levi Brooks. At this point, I was already a pastor, too. It was good to know I was not alone in our family tree.
We will likely never know all our descendants in this life. But this life is not the end. Heaven records the story of our lives. Since we are surrounded by the “great cloud” of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith. Let’s finish strong. Even if we think nobody will ever know how we served the Lord faithfully, we may be sure in the chronicles of eternity, somebody will know.
