Inheritance
Fri, 2016-01-01 05:00
News Staff
By Renae Brumbaugh
I am an heiress! I’ve recently inherited a sizable assortment of jewelry. It’s an impressive collection (though I may be the only one who’s impressed), and includes several broken chains (both silver and gold), several rings (rather tight, but if I hold my mouth right I can jam them on), some gold, silver, and gemstone earrings, a garnet bracelet that’s missing a stone, a garnet necklace, an emerald bracelet and necklace, and about a half dozen watches, all in need of new batteries.
The cool thing is, nobody had to die for me to obtain this inheritance. I received them from my former self.
Yes, you read that correctly. The jewelry always belonged to me, but for some reason, it had been sitting in a box in my closet for who knows how many years while I played dress-up with mostly fake, costume jewelry.
It wasn’t lost. I knew it was there. I just . . . I don’t know. I sort of forgot about the items in that box. I forgot how special they were. So when I gave my closet its yearly New Year’s cleaning last week, I decided to go through the collection.
It was like Christmas all over again.
How could I have overlooked all this cool stuff? Each piece has a special story . . . given to me by my parents or grandparents or some longlost college sweetheart. There’s even an amethyst necklace that spells out “Mom.”
Today, I’m all decked out in a new set of old jewels, and I feel like a queen. Not only does the added bling make me feel pretty . . . it reminds me of who I am. Where I came from. It reminds me that I have always been so very loved.
What a treasure.
Not everyone has a box of jewelry in their closets. But every single one of us has access to an inheritance of far greater value. Yet, much like my forgotten jewelry, we set our treasures on a shelf, disregard them, and ignore them. We go through life using the fake, costume stuff when we could be dressing like kings and queens.
What is this inheritance?
I’m so glad you asked. I was hoping you would.
When we choose to believe God’s promises and place our trust in Him, we inherit His Kingdom and all that comes with it. That inheritance isn’t just good for when we die and go to heaven! We have access to all of God’s riches right here, right now . . . if we’ll only choose to use them.
We have peace. When the Prince of Peace lives in our hearts, His peace is as close as a whisper. We just have to claim it. It’s a peace that doesn’t depend on outer circumstances; His peace gives an inner serenity, no matter what’s going on in our world.
We have joy. It’s a joy that bubbles up and reminds us that no matter how bad things seem, we have a glorious future. It’s not a silly, giddy happiness; instead, it’s a sense of inner contentment that allows us to smile in the face of adversity.
We have strength to make it through even the toughest battles. It’s a strength that allows us to forgive when we don’t want to forgive, to show kindness where we’ve been slighted, to show grace and mercy when it’s not deserved.
We have wisdom, and an amazing counselor who’s on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three-hundred-sixty-five days a year.
We have love—the tough kind—that allows us to love even the most annoying, most disgusting, most unlovable characters.
We have access to all these jewels and more.
Yet, too often, I’ve cleaned out my heart only to find I haven’t been using these treasures at all. I’ve put them in a box in the closet of my heart, and there they’ve sat, gathering dust. All the while, I’ve tried to dress myself up with the cheap stuf f—anger and sadness and depression and unforgiveness—and tried to convince myself that nobody knew the difference. How silly I’ve been!
I’m so glad I found that box of jewelry in my closet. And I’m so glad my inheritance from my Father, the King of Kings, doesn’t have an expiration date.
“And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise,” Galatians 3:29.