“WHAT WILL YOU INHERIT?”

 

Who hasn’t dreamed of one day opening your mailbox and receiving an official-looking letter informing you of a large bequest from a distant relative, leaving you millions of dollars?  But for most of us, our inheritances are a little less lucrative.

 

Maybe you “inherited” your mother’s sense of humor.  Perhaps you were the only one in your family to inherit your grandfather’s red hair.  Other inheritances are less complimentary.  You may be stuck with someone’s temper or your great aunt’s bad teeth.  

 

An inheritance can certainly be a monetary provision from one person to another.  But it can also be described as the characteristics we receive or “inherit” from our parents and relatives.  

 

Another way to think about our inheritance is to examine the influence of religious faith from those who raised us.  For better or worse, the people in our lives, whether they had great faith or a distinct lack of it, probably had a powerful impact on the people we became.  

 

The child of Godly parents has the heritage of his or her parent’s commitment to God’s Word and their willingness to spend time in God’s house and with God’s people.  The child surrounded by unbelievers will not have this blessing of a spiritual environment.  While each of us must make our own commitment to follow Christ, the beliefs of those who raised us shape the context of our spiritual journey.

 

But whether we have a good or bad heritage on this Earth, each of us, as believers, has a spiritual inheritance that is clearly described throughout the Bible.  This marvelous inheritance is a direct result of our relationship to God.  

 

As His children, we inherit not only who He is, but also what He provides.  Revelation 21:7 speaks of the final days: “He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”  

 

No matter what physical or spiritual heritage our parents gave us, this verse assures us of our   inheritance and of our position to God as His  children.  Ours is an inheritance that we do not deserve, but one freely given by our Father in Heaven, and better than any letter we could ever receive in our mailbox.  

 

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:22-23)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16