Devotionals

Heirs That Resemble Slaves

by Terry Barlow
04/19/14
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As long as the heir is a child he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner of everything." This verse at the beginning of the 4th Chapter of Paul's letter to the Galatians struck me. Though we be joined to Christ and co-owners or joint-heirs by covenant to everything Christ owns as Son of God, we are no different than slaves if we are still functionally immature and in various kinds of bondage, having yet to mature from spiritual childhood into a basic level of maturity. The child cannot yet be trusted with an inheritance, in that there are many basic lessons yet to be learned from tutors and trainers, and trustees of the estate.  The prodigal son "jumped the gun" grasping for his inheritance prematurely before he had the wisdom to steward it properly, and it is recorded in Luke 15 for all of us to see how that worked for him.   We will always be learning, true, no matter how mature we might be, but there is a basic level of maturity to be reached before the spiritual inheritance begins to be released freely in our lives. This, too, is when we begin to become or take an active part in the demonstration of "glorious riches of HIS inheritance among the saints, "(Ephesians 1 v.18) as we begin to lay hold of that for which He has laid hold of us and for that which he suffered and died to give us. It has been well said that discipleship may be more about unlearning old habits than imparting new ones or acquiring so much fresh knowledge.  Samuel Johnson was the one who said that education ( literally 'to lead out of') has more to do with review than ploughing new ground.)