Through traveling, I have realized how different my situation could be. I could have been born in any year, in any family, in any culture- but I was born into my family. There is nothing that I can do about it. I have done nothing to earn my position as a daughter. True- at anytime I could choose to excommunicate myself from my family and not accept my place, but in terms where who I am- it’s permanent. I’m pointing out the obvious because in the last several months, I have learned that in the same way, we who are in Christ are accepted as God’s children…no matter what our background or our current earthly condition. When we become a son or daughter of the King of the universe, we are immediately treated as an heir to God’s kingdom. Just as I did nothing to earn my position as the daughter of my parents, I can do nothing to earn my position before God- I just have to accept His gift. I can choose to “excommunicate” myself from the Creator and not accept the gift that God has given, but just like on earth if we accept our parents’ worldly inheritance, we can accept God’s earthly inheritance. Let me explain why…
God is ready to release to a people who have discovered who they are…
Sons and daughters of the most high God.
Colossians 1:12 says that we are qualified in Christ to receive this inheritance. Who is qualified?
His children.
Me and hopefully you.
In the Old Testament, God talks a lot about inheritance and bringing His people into their inheritance. Joshua brought the Israelites into their inheritance: the Promised Land. Joshua 11:23 says, “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel…” Through Christ, we can experience this same inheritance. Ephesians 1:5 tells us that we are adopted as sons and daughters of God through Christ and verse 11 goes on to say that we have also received this inheritance. (By the way, if you need a little self-esteem boost, Ephesians 1 is sure to make you feel a little better).
But it gets even better. Let’s look also at Joshua 13:33: “But to the tribe of Levi, Moses did not give an inheritance; the LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he had promised to them.” So the Levites, or the priests of the Israelites, did not get a tangible inheritance- they were given something better- the Lord was their inheritance. What does that have to do with us?
1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you (those in Christ) are a chosen race. a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” So if through Christ, we are “a royal priesthood” and a “chosen race”, that means just like the Israelite priests, the God of Israel, the God of the Promised Land becomes our inheritance.
Let’s revisit my tangent in the last blog. What I learned in Thailand specifically. I learned that God is “Immanuel” or “God with us.” What does this have to do with anything? Stick with me. We now know that we are a royal priesthood and a chosen race. That’s a big deal. To be chosen by the Creator of the universe isn’t anything to mess around with. And because we are the royal priesthood, God has chosen us to manifest Himself to as “Immanuel.” We have access to our Creator because He is “with us.” In fact, He is in us. Here’s my point. Immanuel is our inheritance. The Levites were blessed because the Lord was their inheritance. We are blessed because God is with us and in us. How’s that for an amazing inheritance?
So now that we know who we are and that God is our inheritance…what does that look like?
