We’ve all heard of people who have inherited large sums of money after the death of a loved one. We’ve all heard stories about Harry fighting with Sally over mother Mary’s wedding ring or china hutch. And we’ve all heard of the legal entanglements that result from members of the same family wanting their own way in the distribution of property.
As God’s children, we receive an inheritance because of the love of God in the death of Christ. We inherit more than mammon or property, for our blessings are spiritual. We receive all of God’s blessings in Christ, because Christ died for us, and we are all made members of the same family. We are all brothers in Him – Christ. That is God’s will, and He bequeaths these blessings to us – His saints – because of what Christ did for us. Our inheritance is not based on what we did to please God.
We were born enemies of God, yet He provides us with a living legacy since we’ve placed our faith in Christ. However, we didn’t love Him until He first loved us and predestined us to be adopted as sons – members of His family. We share what those outside of Christ will never share.
Now, as we get to know God through Jesus, we experience the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. Although we love to feel the power, we complain often when we are blessed with suffering for His sake. Oh that we would count as loss, like Paul, all that does not count for Christ. Oh that we would count them as rubbish quickly.
Yet, in the eternal counsel of God, we were chosen to be shaped in the crucible of life. He decided to mold us into the image of His Son, but that casting does not take place instantly, for it is in the crucible that we learn to properly understand what is important.
Jesus suffered much while on His missionary journey to our planet, and though much of His suffering took place during the final days of His life, He experienced loneliness, rejection, hunger and thirst, and ridicule over the course of His ministry. Understanding that, and realizing all that God has done for us, we should be asking God to move us forward on our own missionary journey, sharing what we have with those who are yet outside of Christ. We will suffer for His sake, but it is a privilege and an honor. When each of us look to Christ and examine His word and find all the blessings He has provided, each of us should sing, “How Can I Ask For More?” May we be thankful for our blessings, and may we not hoard.
Mountain Time Moment
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestined according to the purpose of Him
who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
Ephesians 1:11 NKJV
Complete article with links in blue to Scripture is at:
http://home.comcast.net/~philemon25/Ephesians111.pdf
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