Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

26 June 2025

Reading From Acts 8:1-25

“And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”—Acts 8:1-4

Tertullian, an early church father, wrote that, “the blood of martyrs is the seed for the church.” When someone believes something so strongly that they are willing to die rather than deny or renounce it, that is the most powerfully testimony any cause can have. The persecutors of the church intend to stamp out the Good News of Jesus and prevent the spread of the message. This strategy always backfires on the enemy of our souls. As Christians were driven from their homes and fled into the countryside surrounding Jerusalem, they shared the love and message of the Lord with others wherever they went.

I find it poignant that the godly men who buried Stephen mourned deeply for him. Even though we know where his eternal destiny is, this verse tells us that it’s appropriate to grieve intensely. In fact, it is spiritually healthy to allow oneself to walk through the grieving process with the Lord at our side. This allows the community of faith to gather around those who have lost loved ones and share their burdens, weep with them, and hold them up in prayer and solidarity.

“Lord Jesus, thank You that when Your friend Lazarus died, You wept. You showed us that it is healthy for us to express emotion and to commiserate with those who are hurting. Help us to be truly empathetic and to follow through with processing grief in godly ways. Give us the strength we need to serve You in the face of any and all opposition, even if the enemy is attacking from within. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.”

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 archangeland 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