Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

8 April 2025

Reading From Luke 9:37-62

“As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then he and his disciples went to another village.”

—Luke 9:51-56

     Racism caused division between the Jews and the Samaritans during the lifetime of Jesus.  Most passages in the New Testament seem to highlight the hatred that Jews had for the Samaritans, but in Luke chapter nine we see that the problem was not limited to the Jews.  Samaritans struggled with it too.  Being discriminated against is wrong, but it does not mean that the victim of persecution does not struggle with hatred in their heart just as the persecutor does.  Nothing makes us immune to struggling with sin this side of Heaven.

     Scripture says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Belonging to a certain ethnic group, socioeconomic background, culture or religious persuasion does not make us more righteous or vile than another.  We all bleed red and need to have our wounds healed.  We all have tears that need to be dried.  We all have hearts that are broken and in need of mending.  Only Jesus is the Balm of Gilead.  Only He can melt away hatred in human hearts and restore relationships to the tranquility He intended for us in the Garden of Eden. 

     We need more of the love of God in our world today.  That love is to be expressed in practical acts of compassion, genuine repentance and forgiveness, and holiness unto the Lord.  It is truly amazing what His love can do.  Fallen human beings have a distorted view of what love is, but born again believers experience real love from Heavenly Father.  Quite often Christians struggle with understanding how to share His love with others, just as the disciples did.  Followers of Jesus have His Spirit living within them, but we still live in our flesh and we must decide who to listen to: ourselves or the Spirit? 

     The disciples thought, from the fleshly perspective of their natural selves, that they should respond with what they thought was a spiritual response by calling down fire from heaven against the Samaritans as Elijah did upon the altar when he opposed the prophets of Baal.  But the way of Jesus was to respond to hatred with love.  In this case, the loving and wise thing to do was to not retaliate against those who disagreed with what He was doing, but to simply move on. 

We would do well to follow His example on social media.  He knew that at that moment His disciples were not in a place of spiritual maturity where they could engage with those who do not agree with them.  As parents often say, “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”  People will not be won to Christ by winning an argument.  We are moved by the kindness of God to repentance, not because someone proved that they were right and we were wrong. As we truly follow the example and teachings of Jesus, more people will be brought into the eternal family of God and our family will become more united in faith, peace, love and wisdom.

“Lord, give us the wisdom we need to know when to just keep scrolling.  Bless us with the love, wisdom and knowledge we need to engage with those who disagree with us and to know when not to engage.  Heal our hearts from the damage caused by sin.  Remove racism and all forms of hatred from our hearts and minds.  May we live to please You, Heavenly Father.  In the glorious Name of Jesus Christ I pray these things, Amen.”

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

—James 3:17-18