Our Eternal Inheritance

We’ve all seen movies and TV shows about family conflicts over an inheritance. Wealthy families often have internal turmoil going on. Wills are contested and ugly scenes result in legal disputes. But what about our inheritance? Not our earthly one, but the heavenly one. It’s beyond our calculation and there’s enough for everyone.

Psalm 16:5 – O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot.

Psalm 37:18 – The Lord knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be forever.

Ephesians 1:11 – 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.

I Peter 1:3-5 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Children of God, who are part of His family through faith in Christ, are promised an eternal inheritance. We don’t know what that all looks like. I don’t think God could explain it to us in human words because it’s far beyond our imagination. But if God thought it up, it must be GREAT! We already have received salvation, adoption into His family, the Holy Spirit to guide us, the written Word to sustain us. What more could we ask for? And yet there is more “to be revealed in the last time.”

No matter what inheritance is provided for us in this world – houses, land, money – that’s not worth comparing to the spiritual inheritance to which we are heirs. Just think. Jesus Himself and all we are entitled to in Him is far beyond anything in the here and now. If we are full of anticipation, that should affect how we act and think. In the same passage quoted above, Peter goes on to say: “Rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:13). Are you resting in the promises of God? Are you full of hope? Are you excited about your great inheritance?

Where is your focus today?

 “Take the World, but Give Me Jesus,” from “Songs of Fanny Crosby”