God, You have heard my vows. You give me the inheritance of those who fear Your name
(Vs. 5)
The Spirt Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Romans 8
I had only been born six years earlier when I made the decision to be born again. To ask Jesus to come into my heart and mind. To proclaim to Christ my love for Him, which I must say was about as great as six-year-old love can be. Horrified in my little heart that He would bleed and die for my sins. Amazed at His resurrection. Astounded beyond belief at the prospect of heaven.
There was so much I didn't know the day I asked Jesus into my heart. There is much I still don't know lo, these many years later! For instance, I didn't know I had come into the family of God with Jesus as a joint heir. I wouldn't have even known what in the world you were talking about if we had had that conversation! I was just a little kid, for Pete's sake! All I knew was I loved Jesus with all my heart. That is enough for little children. But I am bigger now and my Father wants me to understand the depth of our relationship as a big girl.
I don't know why I am so tall. No one else in my family is. My sisters are a lovely average height, as were my parents. Mother's uncles were taller. Maybe that is where I inherited my length. All three of us girls are shaped differently, too. We have similarities, though. Just as my children do. Sharing characteristics we owe to our genes. Looking something like each other. Because we are family.
That is what happened when I was born anew, too. Christ came to live inside of me by the Holy Spirit and I started looking and thinking differently. Born of two families then - my earthly and my heavenly. I have to say that when my earthly parents died there wasn't much of a monetary inheritance. But I still carry what each gave me genetically. Some of that is stuff I struggle with just like they did. Some of it, though, was good. I hope I kept that. So what do I inherit as a child of God? What is this inheritance He gives us who love and revere Him?
Salvation above all else. I was bought by the blood of Christ out of slavery to a wicked master and brought into the household of God my Father. That is enough, really. Think sex trafficking or the slave trade. I was bought as one who had no family. Now all the riches of the universe are mine because they are my Father's. (I just shouted...really) But I also have the mind of Christ (1Corinthians 2), the fruit of the Spirit (Ephesians), heaven (Revelation 21), brothers and sisters (Romans 8), power over the enemy of my soul (1 John 4), and, most stunningly to me, a Father Who watches over my every thought and takes my hand to lead me through this crazy, difficult world.
I want to look like Him. I want those eyes that warm to the needs of others. The arms reaching out to lend support. Tears that fall with the mourning. Hearty laughter with those who rejoice. Wisdom for circumstances that present a maze we cannot master without it. Mercy that triumphs over any judgments I might make. Anger only at the injustices meted out to others or directed at my Father. My children look more and more like me and Bill as they grow older. That Farish thing makes them act more like us, too. But because they are a blend of families, they also have their own characteristics that set them apart. Make then so uniquely and gloriously themselves. My Father allows that room in me, too. Not a puppet, I am fearfully and wonderfully made to accomplish His amazing will in me. I get to be me! Filled with Him!
Now I know more about my adoption than I did when I was six. I know Whose family I come from and what my Father expects. I know His character. I understand the rules. Because I am a big girl now who can walk hand in hand with her Father and talk about the things that move His heart. And when I receive my final reward, because Jesus died so that I could have it, I will have an eternity to bask in the wonders of the inheritance He paid so dearly to assure I receive.
"Now God's presence is with people, and he will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them and He will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, sadness, crying or pain because all the old ways are gone."
The One on the throne said: "It is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give free water from the spring of life to anyone who is thirsty. Those who win the victory will inherit all of this, and I will be their God and they will be my children."
Revelation 21
(Vs. 5)
The Spirt Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Romans 8
I had only been born six years earlier when I made the decision to be born again. To ask Jesus to come into my heart and mind. To proclaim to Christ my love for Him, which I must say was about as great as six-year-old love can be. Horrified in my little heart that He would bleed and die for my sins. Amazed at His resurrection. Astounded beyond belief at the prospect of heaven.
There was so much I didn't know the day I asked Jesus into my heart. There is much I still don't know lo, these many years later! For instance, I didn't know I had come into the family of God with Jesus as a joint heir. I wouldn't have even known what in the world you were talking about if we had had that conversation! I was just a little kid, for Pete's sake! All I knew was I loved Jesus with all my heart. That is enough for little children. But I am bigger now and my Father wants me to understand the depth of our relationship as a big girl.
I don't know why I am so tall. No one else in my family is. My sisters are a lovely average height, as were my parents. Mother's uncles were taller. Maybe that is where I inherited my length. All three of us girls are shaped differently, too. We have similarities, though. Just as my children do. Sharing characteristics we owe to our genes. Looking something like each other. Because we are family.
That is what happened when I was born anew, too. Christ came to live inside of me by the Holy Spirit and I started looking and thinking differently. Born of two families then - my earthly and my heavenly. I have to say that when my earthly parents died there wasn't much of a monetary inheritance. But I still carry what each gave me genetically. Some of that is stuff I struggle with just like they did. Some of it, though, was good. I hope I kept that. So what do I inherit as a child of God? What is this inheritance He gives us who love and revere Him?
Salvation above all else. I was bought by the blood of Christ out of slavery to a wicked master and brought into the household of God my Father. That is enough, really. Think sex trafficking or the slave trade. I was bought as one who had no family. Now all the riches of the universe are mine because they are my Father's. (I just shouted...really) But I also have the mind of Christ (1Corinthians 2), the fruit of the Spirit (Ephesians), heaven (Revelation 21), brothers and sisters (Romans 8), power over the enemy of my soul (1 John 4), and, most stunningly to me, a Father Who watches over my every thought and takes my hand to lead me through this crazy, difficult world.
I want to look like Him. I want those eyes that warm to the needs of others. The arms reaching out to lend support. Tears that fall with the mourning. Hearty laughter with those who rejoice. Wisdom for circumstances that present a maze we cannot master without it. Mercy that triumphs over any judgments I might make. Anger only at the injustices meted out to others or directed at my Father. My children look more and more like me and Bill as they grow older. That Farish thing makes them act more like us, too. But because they are a blend of families, they also have their own characteristics that set them apart. Make then so uniquely and gloriously themselves. My Father allows that room in me, too. Not a puppet, I am fearfully and wonderfully made to accomplish His amazing will in me. I get to be me! Filled with Him!
Now I know more about my adoption than I did when I was six. I know Whose family I come from and what my Father expects. I know His character. I understand the rules. Because I am a big girl now who can walk hand in hand with her Father and talk about the things that move His heart. And when I receive my final reward, because Jesus died so that I could have it, I will have an eternity to bask in the wonders of the inheritance He paid so dearly to assure I receive.
"Now God's presence is with people, and he will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them and He will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, sadness, crying or pain because all the old ways are gone."
The One on the throne said: "It is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give free water from the spring of life to anyone who is thirsty. Those who win the victory will inherit all of this, and I will be their God and they will be my children."
Revelation 21
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