Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

15 October 2025

Reading From I Thessalonians 3

“Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”

—I Thessalonians 3:11-13

     There is such encouragement for the children of God in the pages in the Scriptures.  It was the prayer of Paul and those he ministered with to be with the believers in Thessaloniki.  Their love and concern are so evident from this letter.  What I find fascinating about Paul’s prayer is that he makes the connection between love and holiness; in fact, that an increase and abounding in love leads to the heart being established blameless in holiness. 

     Holiness is about being set apart, being different.  God is the holiest Being in the entire universe because no one is His superior or equal, there is no one like Him.  He is completely holy and righteous and pure.  Love makes one different in this cold, dark, cruel world.  God is Love and if He dwells within an individual, then that person is filled with love and holiness.  As one experiences more and more of the love of God, it inspires, motivates and empowers not only to lead a life pleasing to God in alignment with His Word, but also to share the love and light with others. 

     From this passage in I Thessalonians, apparently how we become more holy, more like Jesus, is to increase and abound in love.  This will establish our hearts as blameless in holiness.  We are being prepared for meeting our Lord Jesus, but He isn’t coming for us alone.  He is coming back to us with His holy ones, the rest of our eternal family who have gone on before us.  They will take us home to the New Eden where our joy will be made complete in the consuming love and holiness of God. The goal of our faith, the end game of salvation, is to be perfectly united with Him, to be made entirely whole in love and holiness.

“Lord Jesus, Your Gospel is the most profound and beautiful mystery known to mankind in the limitations of our finite understanding in the context of our present reality.  Holy Spirit, guide us into all truth.  Flood our hearts and minds with Your love, Lord.  Remove from us all that is unlike You.  Make us more like You, Jesus.  May we overflow with Your loving kindness and share Your love with our family, friends, and all those we meet.  In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray these things, Amen.”

You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.

—Leviticus 20:26

Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

—Psalm 139:23-24

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.

—II Timothy 1:9

For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

—Hebrews 10:14

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

—I Corinthians 3:16

God’s Love and Ours

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

—I John 4:7-21