Closer To Heaven
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by Melody Tan | 16 July 2026 | “Tim says he won’t see his grandparents in heaven because they don’t believe in God,” my son told me one day. “Does this mean our family who don’t believe in God won’t be in heaven either?” How do you tell a child they won’t spend eternity with […] Source: https://atoday.org/who-will-we-find-in-heaven/
Help us improve Adventist Today! We’re conducting a reader survey and we’d be incredibly grateful for your input. Click this link or scan the QR code to share your feedback; your perspective makes a real difference! Thank you for taking the time to share! Source: https://atoday.org/adventist-today-reader-survey-let-us-know-what-you-think/
Still awake?
July 16, 2026
No One Is Forgotten
Matthew 1:3–6“Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar… Salmon was the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife.”
Matthew 1:3–6 (excerpt)
Did you notice something?
In the middle of a long list of men, Matthew suddenly mentions the names of several women.
At that time, this was anything but ordinary.
And something else stands out.
None of these women had a perfect life.
Tamar.
Rahab.
Ruth.
Bathsheba.
Each of them carries her own story.
Stories filled with pain.
Stories filled with guilt.
Stories filled with courage.
And stories filled with grace.
Why do their names appear specifically in the genealogy of Jesus?
Because God wants to show us:
His grace writes the final line.
Not your past.
Not your mistakes.
Not what others think about you.
Perhaps you too are carrying things you would rather forget.
Maybe there are moments you are ashamed of.
Or wounds no one knows about.
Then look at the genealogy of Jesus.
There you will find people who were not known for their perfection, but because God did not give up on them.
And the same is true for you.
With God, no one is forgotten.
No one is written off.
No one is without hope.
Think About ItIs there an area of your life that you believe God cannot use?
PrayerDear Father,
thank You that Your grace is greater than my past.
Thank You that You do not judge people by their mistakes, but according to Your loving heart.
Help me believe that my life also has a future in Your hands.
Thank You that I am never written off by You.
Amen.
Sleep well.
Your loving Father knows your whole story—and loves you anyway.
See you tomorrow.
Source: https://fulfilleddesire.net/%f0%9f%8c%99-still-awake-07-15-2026-%f0%9f%8c%b8-no-one-is-forgotten/
Inside Story for Friday 17th of July 2026
This mission story offers an inside look at the results of a previous Thirteenth Sabbath project. In Spain, Sagunto Adventist College received part of a 2019 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering for its theology department, where Dante Herrmann studied. This quarter, your offering will again help spread the gospel in the Inter-European Division, which includes Spain.
Dante Herrmann had two dreams: to be a millionaire or a tattoo artist.
Everyone laughed when he, as a 12-year-old boy, eagerly shared his first dream. “If you want to be rich, you have to work,” they said.
“No, I can become a millionaire without working,” Dante replied.
He was a dreamer who needed a miracle for his dream to come true.
Dante himself was a miracle. His mother had tried for years to have a baby, and doctors finally had told her to give up. Then Dante was born. But he was a sickly baby, and doctors said he needed to move to a tropical climate to survive. So, his parents left their home in Germany to live in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of northwestern Africa.
By the age of 16, Dante wasn’t any closer to becoming a millionaire or a tattoo artist. A hyperactive teen, he followed the advice of exasperated teachers and dropped out of high school to work as a handyman. But the work was hard and the pay was poor, and he began dealing drugs, mainly cocaine. A year later, he made a pact with the devil, offering his soul for drugs, wild living, and rock ‘n’ roll. He sealed the deal with a tattoo on his hand.
For a while, Dante felt happy. He wasn’t a millionaire, but money and pleasure never seemed to end. Yet, he felt a hole in his heart. He saw that his drugs were ruining lives, and he sensed an inner voice, asking, Do you think it’s OK to get rich at the expense of others?
Then fear set in. He had trouble with the police, and he fled to Germany, where his mother had moved after leaving his father a few years earlier. Life wasn’t better in Germany, and Dante ended up back on the Canary Islands seven years later, when he was 25. He quit drugs, and a friend taught him how to be a tattoo artist. Dante was pleased to fulfill one of his childhood dreams, and he was making good money, although not enough to be wealthy.
Then he learned that he could still become a millionaire. His father, a rock music promoter and club owner, sued a major beverage company for billions of dollars in damages in a copyright infringement lawsuit. His father had trademarked a brand name that the company was using without his consent. He offered Dante 10 percent of the proceeds if he helped with the suit.
At the same time, a friend gave Dante a Bible, and he began to read it. He read, “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it” (Proverbs 10:22, NIV). He thought, If I give God my heart, He will bless me and make me rich. He decided to give his heart to Jesus.
Today, Dante is rich, but not in the way that the world calculates wealth. “When I was a tattoo artist, I wanted the hole in my heart to be filled,” said Dante, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor in Germany. “I thought I had to be a millionaire for the hole to be filled. But all I needed was Jesus.”
Daily Lesson for Friday 17th of July 2026
Further Thought:
Read Ellen G. White, “The Training of the Twelve,” Pages 17–24, in The Acts of the Apostles.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“The oneness and unity of God’s truth-believing remnant people carries powerful conviction to the world that they have the truth, and are the peculiar, chosen people of God. This oneness and unity disconcerts the enemy, and he is determined that it shall not exist. The present truth, believed in the heart and exemplified in the life, makes God’s people one, and gives them a powerful influence.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 327.
“God is leading out a people to stand in perfect unity upon the platform of eternal truth. Christ gave Himself to the world that He might ‘purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.’ This refining process is designed to purge the church from all unrighteousness and the spirit of discord and contention, that they may build up instead of tear down, and concentrate their energies on the great work before them. God designs that His people should all come into the unity of the faith. The prayer of Christ just prior to His crucifixion was that His disciples might be one, even as He was one with the Father, that the world might believe that the Father had sent Him. This most touching and wonderful prayer reaches down the ages, even to our day; for His words were: ‘Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word.’ ”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 17.
Discussion Questions
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