Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

12 December 2024

Reading From Acts 24-26

“However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. So I strive always to keep my conscience clearbefore God and man.” —Acts 24:14-16

Jesus Christ is our everything. He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. He is the very fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets; the promises of God come true in bodily form as the Son of Man who is the Son of God.

There were over three hundred Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament that have either been fulfilled by the first advent of Jesus or will be fulfilled by His second advent. Thus, Paul spoke the truth in giving his defense before Procurator Felix. The New Covenant of Christ Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant of Judaism. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Our understanding of this fulfillment is deepened when we learn from the teachings of the Savior. In Matthew 7:12, He gave us the Golden Rule. “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” This Golden Rule is to be guided by love. In Matthew 22, the Golden Rule is expanded with the Great Commandment.

“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:  “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” —Matthew 22:34-40

When a son of Adam or a daughter of Eve is born again they become a son or a daughter of the Most High God. The New Birth experience brings us into the Body of Christ and the culmination of our spiritual journey will be perfect unity and harmony with Heavenly Father. We become part of His fulfillment as we do the will of the Father in loving Him, loving others and loving ourselves with the love He gives us and fills our hearts with.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” —I John 4:7-9.

As we obey the Golden Rule and the Great Commandment, we put our faith into action and prove it to be genuine. By sharing the love of God, we are partaking of the divine nature and bringing honor and glory to God who is love. We become participants with Christ in the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.

“Lord, sometimes it is so difficult to love others. People don’t always make it easy. Thank You for understanding our weaknesses and sympathizing with us. I pray that we would see people through Your eyes. Give us Your perspective. Fill our hearts to overflowing with Your love. May we be faithful to share that love with others. Show us how to do that in practical ways. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.”

If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.But the greatest of these is love.

—I Corinthians 13