Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

15 November 2025

Reading From Hebrews 11

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”—Hebrews 11:1-3

Faith is defined here in Hebrews 11 as confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. We do not see Jesus, yet we choose to believe He lives and is faithful to His Word. Jesus said in John 20:29, “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” You and I are among those blessed because we have not seen Him physically and yet we dare to trust on Jesus.

Faith is more than belief. Even the demons believe and tremble. James 2:19 tells us, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” Faith must deeper than believe in God and His oneness. We must believe upon Jesus, take Him at His Word, and put His Word into action by repentance, confession and surrendering to Him as Savior and Lord.

Jesus is our hope. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we would have no hope. But because the resurrection is a historic fact, we not only have strength for today, but bright hope for tomorrow. He is coming again, the dead in Christ will rise first and we who are living will be caught up and be glorified with Him and those who have gone before us. Titus 2:11-14 says, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickednessand to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

Grace is the undeserved favor of God. We cannot earn our way to Heaven, we cannot earn our right standing before God the Father, and we cannot earn the welcome to live in the radiant warmth of the Presence of Heavenly Father. Ephesians 2:8-10 reveals, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The love, grace and mercy of God accessed through faith in Jesus transforms our lives to where we want to do good works. As new creations in Christ Jesus (II Corinthians 5:17) our desire is to please the Lord out of love.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines mercy as “compassion, leniency, or restraint (as in imposing punishment) shown especially to an offender or to one subject to the power of another.” It is within God’s right as righteous Judge to mete out punishment. “The wages of sin is death” and “all have sinned and fall short of His glory” and yet as Psalm 103 says “he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

Jesus is the very definition of love. He is love. John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” There has been no greater sacrifice in all the history of the world than the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus in the garden, the cross and the empty tomb. Faith, Repentance, Confession and surrender to His will as Savior and Lord is the way to life abundant and eternal for whoever will.

“Heavenly Father, I cannot thank You enough for making a way for me to be restored to the New Eden of Your glorious Presence. I look forward in faith to being with You for eternity and having amazing adventures in the New Heaven and the New Earth. Give me the strength I need to endure to the end and see You face to face. I long for my faith to be made sight. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.”

For we live by faith, not by sight.—II Corinthians 5:7

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

—I Thessalonians 4:16-17