Your Inheritance

Your Inheritance

You are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

Galatians 4:7

Since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.

Romans 8:17

The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

Ephesians 1:14

A “last will and testament” is an important and official legal document that a person writes to let people know what should be done with his or her possessions after that person dies. The people who get that person’s belongings or money after he or she dies are the heirs.

God, too, has made up a will and named his heirs. “God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance,” says Hebrews 1:2. In the end, Jesus will have all things under his complete control and ownership—all natural resources, all governmental power, all human intelligence, all the riches of the earth. Everything will be under his authority and command.

And while Jesus doesn’t have to share the inheritance with anyone, he will! Romans 8:17 calls us “co-heirs with Christ” (NIV). Jesus will not keep his inheritance to himself. He has promised that he will share all he inherits with anyone who will trust in him. Scripture says that God’s children will inherit a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself, all God’s promises, and all the good things of heaven. Someday each one of us will leave this earth and let go of everyone we have loved and everything we have enjoyed. We’ll be left with only our eternal inheritance. But we will not be disappointed. It will be everything we’ve anticipated and more.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

What kinds of things do people inherit from other people?

Wills go into effect only after death. On a spiritual level, whose death put our inheritance into effect?

How can knowing about our inheritance in heaven help us in our battle with materialism? How can it help us endure suffering?