Inheritance

This morning I slept in past 11:00! Beautiful day off! 

I woke up thinking about inheritance, so I decided to get my thoughts down before jumping out of bed to start my day. In Ephesians 1:11 Paul writes, "In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will." When I think about the truth that I have been given an inheritance in Jesus, my imaginative wheels start spinning wildly. What riches are included in this inheritance? What doesn't belong to Jesus, the King of kings? The Psalms declare that all of heaven and earth are His footstool. In Psalms 2:8, the nations are Jesus' possessions. The beauty of heaven, the glory of the throne, the angelic hosts, the weird creatures with the eyes...the list in endless! Paul even tries to give us a glimpse of what our inheritance in Christ looks like in earlier verses in Ephesians 1:

*every spiritual blessing in Christ
*we've been chosen to be holy and blameless
*He's in love with us
*spiritual adoption
*glorious grace freely given
*redemption through His blood
*forgiveness of sins
*wisdom and understanding
*knowledge of His mysterious will

This is just a portion of our inheritance in Jesus. What glory and majesty will the Father give His sons and daughters? The concept is staggering and enough to keep me wondering all my days. But...this isn't where I'm to remain. This isn't the highest truth that God wants me to dwell upon. My relationship with Him doesn't end with what He can give me, although its fun to think about. 

Paul goes on to write in Ephesians 1:18, "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints." Apparently, Jesus has an inheritance, too. What does a Father give a Son who has everything? What would make His heart excited to have and to hold throughout the ages? WE are His inheritance. Think about how grand our inheritance in Christ is...in comparison to the inheritance He will gain! What worth the Father and the Son ascribe to us faulty beings! YOU are the inheritance Jesus is waiting for...this is astounding! 

I believe that my life as a follower/daughter/bride of Jesus is to move from focusing on Ephesians 1:11 to living Ephesians 1:18. It's wonderful to know what God will give me. It's so fun to wonder about. But, if I stay in that line of thinking too long, my relationship with Jesus will become self-focused. God can easily become my vending machine...gimme! Jesus wants me to move from a self-focused follower to a God-focused follower. I am the inheritance. What does that mean for my life? It means that I live to fulfill His desires. It means that I live to walk in voluntary obedience. It means that my heart wears a giant sandwich board that screams YES! to anything He asks. Jesus wants to conquer nations because the Father has promised the nations to be His possession and we, as princes and princesses in the Kingdom of God, are called to this high privilege and partnership to see this happen. I want Jesus, at the end of this age, to have His full inheritance...because I know assuredly that He will give me my full inheritance. He will not hold back. He will only continue to lavish His affections and resources upon me. I desire to be an equal marriage partner to Him. I want to live in such a way that my life lavishes my affections and resources upon Him. I want to walk around with the confidence that I, as His inheritance, am His trophy wife! It's a beautiful position to which we are all invited to fill.

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