Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Daily Devotional by Kenton Cheek

19 June 2024

Reading From Ecclesiastes 7-12

“A good name is better than fine perfume,
    and the day of death better than the day of birth.
It is better to go to a house of mourning
    than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of everyone;
    the living should take this to heart.”

–Ecclesiastes 7:1-2

     The majority of our population is obsessed with entertainment.  Unfortunately, it has become one of our best-known exports from America across the globe.  I say unfortunately because what is broadcast around the world are by and large not accurate depictions of life in the United States or the thoughts and feelings of vast segments of our people.  The media centers of Los Angeles and New York have no clue what life is like in the square states or the majority of the landmass of America, for that matter. 

     The spiritual toxic waste is sent forth and consumed by billions.  We want to go to the house of feasting; we don’t want to think about mortality or the afterlife.  Ecclesiastes tells us that we must.  We need a more eternal perspective.  We need to think beyond how to satisfy the finicky cravings and desires of our flesh.  There is more to life than meets the eye and if we don’t do something about where we will spend eternity, death will overtake us unprepared.  Choose this day whom you will serve, because it is appointed for man to die once and after that the judgment. Today is the day of salvation. It is eternally dangerous to put it off until tomorrow.

“God, I choose You.  I love You because You first loved me.  Thank You for adopting me as Your son and preparing a home for me in Heaven to be with You forever.  I am excited to learn more and more about what that will look like.  What amazing adventures we will have together!  I love You Jesus.  Amen!”

But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.

–Joshua 24:15

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

–Hebrews 9:27-28

“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.

“But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

–Deuteronomy 30:15-20