I have the same problem (Zerif Lite, version 1.3.1).
I think this issue comes from your changes to the front-page.php file. There must be a bug in the newest version of this file. It used to work fine in the previous version.
Again, the customizing of the front page of your theme does not work properly. When you choose “Your latest posts” in the area “Customize” > “Static Front Page”, the theme shows a static front page, the actual front page of your theme with all the widgets (Our Focus, About, Testimonials, …). This should not be the case.
In contrast, if you choose “A static page” and then select nothing or the “Welcome” page as the front page and the appropriate site of your posts (e.g. Blog) as the site for the latest post, then the actual content of the “Welcome” page is shown and not your front page with all your widgets. This was not the case in the previous version, where this setting led to a correct functioning of the theme.
The area where you make this changes can be seen over here
https://themeisle.com/documentation-zerif-lite
