Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

26 November 2024

Reading From I Thessalonians 1-5, II Thessalonians 1-3

¹³ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words. —I Thessalonians 4:13-18

One of the top fears among humans is death. Here the Apostle Paul shares knowledge that will better inform us about what the Lord has store for our future. If we’re able to trust Him for our salvation, we should trust that He will one day make that very salvation complete by bringing us to our new home. This knowledge brings comfort because God is trustworthy.

A good way to bring peace to our hearts and minds when facing uncertainty is to remind ourselves of the things we already know rather than focusing on what is unknown. We know the Bible to be the Word of God so we need to stick with that. God will remain true to His promises.

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and yet we know that mortal bodies decay. Therefore, we are assured that when a person dies, it is only their body that perishes. Their spirit goes to be with God and the rest of our eternal family. They become part of the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us with spiritual encouragement.

One day those of us who are still alive on the Earth for the Second Coming will witness an incredible resurrection. All of those dead bodies will reconstitute and rise to be rejoined with their spirits to become glorified resurrected bodies. We who have not yet died physically will then join them and receive the same. That physical separation from our loved ones in the Lord will never happen again. We will be one with God and our eternal family.

“Lord Jesus, I am beyond grateful for the blessed hope of Your glorious appearing. May I trust You more each day and fear not for the promises of Your Word are trustworthy. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.”

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. —Matthew 24:42