Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

10 September 2025

Reading From II Corinthians 3

“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on ourhearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”—II Corinthians 3:1-3

     Every son and daughter of the Most High God is a living epistle, a walking testament to the love, mercy and grace freely given to them through faith in Jesus Christ.  We are to be walking, talking, living, breathing Bibles that should be read by those who come across our paths.  What kind of story is your life?  Is it one that points to Jesus or to yourself?  I must ask this question more often of myself and ask the Lord to realign my priorities with His. 

     When we are born again, God lives within us by His Holy Spirit and in Him we live and move and have our being.  “The Lord is the Spirit” is a phrase repeated twice in this chapter and it shows that the Spirit is God.  In John it is revealed that the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father and the Father and the Son are One.  Therefore if we link what is said in John with what is said here in II Corinthians, we have a picture of the Triune God, Three in One. 

     The Ten Commandments which summarized the hundreds of laws that codified the Old Covenant were written upon tablets of stone.  Yahweh dwelt among them and the Spirit temporarily rested upon certain individuals for specific purposes.  But in the New Covenant age which we find ourselves in today, God dwells within people permanently uniting them with Him and His eternal family.  He will never leave us nor forsake us for we carry Him within us wherever we go.  Shine the warm light of Jesus in this cold, dark world.

“Heavenly Father, may Your children join together as a city upon a hill, a light which cannot be hidden.  Let us shine brightly Your love and truth in this hate-filled, confused world.  Thank You that You are re-writing our story to honor and glorify You.  I pray that I would be a living sacrifice, a living epistle that testifies of Your transformational grace that may would read my life and be drawn into a healthy, balanced, life-giving relationship with You.  In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray these things, Amen.”

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when oneturns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

—II Corinthians 3:12-18