Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

24 August 2025

Reading From I Corinthians 7

“The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.  The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.  Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”—I Corinthians 7:3-5

God created human beings in His image to reflect and share in His glory. God is Spirit and transcends gender. No human words can adequately describe the fullness of who God is. There are masculine and feminine aspects to God’s nature and therefore when a man and woman come together in healthy, loving, holy matrimony, they reflect God in a beautifully symbolic way. This is a central part of why gender and sexuality are to be defined, protected and careful guidance is given for these matters in the Holy Scriptures. Sex outside of marriage between a husband and wife is disruptive and destructive.

The pure love that is expressed in a healthy marriage relationship is sacred and to be enjoyed by both the husband and the wife. God wants making love to be pleasurable; if it were not so we wouldn’t have the Song of Solomon in the Bible. Strive for excellence in all things, including sex within marriage. We are to serve one another and be intentional about being a blessing to our spouse. There should be mutual love and respect. Sex has the potential of bringing tremendous joy and it strengthens the bonds of unity. Have good sex and as much of it as possible so that you’re not tempted to search for it elsewhere. Sexual intimacy and oneness is a symbolic reflection of spiritual intimacy and oneness between Christ Jesus and His Bride the Church.

As followers of Jesus, we are to surrender our lives to Him and in this wonderful process of salvation and sanctification, we become more and more like Him; transformed from glory to glory. We make countless decisions to follow His principles rather than selfish desires. We must decrease that He would increase. Our unity with one another in the eternal family of God will one day reach its culmination and we will enjoy perfect harmony with Him. Salvation is an event (being born again), a gradual process (sanctification and spiritual growth) and a future goal (glorification with Jesus). To get there, we must yield our wills to His in humble surrender.

This crescendo will take place at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb after the Second Coming. Nothing will ever separate us or hinder our relationship with God and each other. The corrosive effects of sin will be no more. Our joy will be made complete in the New Heaven and the New Earth as we rule and reign with Christ forever. We will be one with Him.

“Lord, these are perhaps some of the deepest subjects of our human experience and our faith. Help us to treat them with reverence and joy. So many people have been hurt because sex is experienced in a myriad of ways outside of Your design laid out in Your Word. May our expressions of love be in alignment with Your divine wisdom. In the strong and loving Name of Jesus Christ I pray these things, Amen.”

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 

In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. 

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.  However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.—Ephesians 5:25-33

He who finds a wife finds a good thing,
And obtains favor from the Lord.

—Proverbs 18:22