Allen Raynor Weblog:
“The Best Inheritance of All”
(Mar. 30, 2017)
One of the television programs I enjoy is a show
that is aired on The Fox Business Network called Strange Inheritance
hosted by Jamie Colby. The 30-minute episodes feature people who have
inherited unusual items or collections which are almost always valuable.
Past episodes have featured such things as a large and intricately detailed
collection of ships in a bottle; land containing dinosaur bones; a massive
collection of model trains; a nostalgic movie theater in Pennsylvania; a huge
collection of western art; very rare baseball cards more than 100 years old;
and the original headstone of JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
People collect many things. Some are valuable while some are not.
Most people collect things based on their areas of interest and not so much on
the basis of whether it is, or will be, valuable. Whatever a person
collects is valuable to them, and sometimes only them. I know of many
pastors who have collected many books and built impressive libraries of, in
some cases, several thousand volumes. The primary motivating factor has
been to gain better knowledge of God, His Word, making disciples, ministering,
evangelizing, understanding theology, and church history. My guess is
that such collections will never be featured on shows like Strange
Inheritance or The History Channel’s American Pickers.
The world places value on certain things, but not on other things. The world
has little interest in books they 1) Do not understand 2) Challenge their
lifestyle. Take a look at people. Where do they spend their time,
where do they spend their money, and what do they like to talk about? It
is pretty easy to figure out what a person is all about when you see where
their affections lay.
If most people in this world were to inherit a large collection of Christian
books, or even a collection of Bibles, they would hardly know what to do.
Ironically, people are anxious to inherit money and valuable possessions from a
loved one, but they place value on things that have no value to God, and fail
to place value on things that have enormous value to God. We
might call it a big inheritance mix-up where people’s thinking is totally
opposite of what God intends. Paul, writing to the Ephesian church, wrote
“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.”
(Eph. 1:11) He wrote to the Colossian church that we should be truly
thankful for our inheritance in Christ as he commends “Giving thanks to the
Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
the light.” (Col. 1:12). Peter opened his first epistle by reminding the
saints of their inheritance in Christ. He said “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.” (1 Pet. 1:4-5)
Beginning at a young age, I was taught to put God first, others second, and
myself last. As I grew into adulthood and slowly understood God better I
eventually came to understand the need to put God first, my family second, and
everything else after that. That has been my goal and aim. I am
deeply saddened and often disturbed when I learn of others treating God and
their families so flippantly. So much is taken for granted. But, it
is more common to take God’s blessings for granted when we fail to realize those
blessings have come from God. The problems of this world can easily be
understood by the fact that the world does not know God nor His Son the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because of this, they will inherit nothing from God.
He is not a father to them, nor are they His sons. They are not the “new
creatures” in Christ that Paul talks about in 2 Cor. 5:17. Instead they
stand to reap what they have sown (Gal. 6:7). They will inherit this
corrupted world that is destined for God’s judgment. But, as believers we
have a wonderful inheritance waiting for us. It is an inheritance of
God’s own choosing prepared and preserved for us, His children.
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor
No comments:
Post a Comment