Our Life in the Trinity

A Faded Inheritance

Posted on March 20, 2013

by Linda Rex

Have you ever experienced the transience of an inheritance? I spoke one time to a lady who had worked all her life to save up a pension and to set aside money for her retirement. All of that money was slated to be given to her children upon her death. It was to be a substantial inheritance for them.

However, due to an unexpected and unfortunate set of circumstances, the lady ended up needing long-term care. As she was receiving her care, she ended up in the hospital for an extended length of time. Within six months, every penny of her children’s inheritance was gone and she was left living on Social Security. She could not believe that all those years of doing without to save those funds ended with nothing to show for it. She was devastated.

But this is the nature of human inheritances. They are transient and easily fade away. A simple fluctuation in the economy can eliminate thousands of dollars in value. To many people, it is a tragedy beyond belief. Or is it?

In reality the greater tragedy is to place one’s dependency there rather than on an eternal inheritance that cannot fade away. God has an inheritance waiting for you and me—a living hope—who is Jesus Christ, our living Savior who rose from the dead in triumph over self, sin and Satan, and death. This inheritance cannot be stolen or spoiled.

We need to invest daily in our eternal inheritance by growing in our relationship with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. For this is eternal life, to know God and to be known by him. Our daily walk with Jesus, our care and concern for one another shown by good deeds are ways of investing in our eternal inheritance. We cannot earn this inheritance because it is a gift in Christ from God to his children. But we can invest in it.

Jesus said not to worry so much about the physical but to invest in the eternal instead. Our inheritance will never fade because it is secure in Christ as we trust in him. One day we will share eternal glory with all our brothers and sisters in Christ forever. For this we give God thanks and praise each moment of our lives.

Lord, thank you for the many blessings you give us in this life. Help us, though, to set our hearts and minds on what is eternal and will last forever rather than on things that are transient and can fade away. Help us to make choices with eternity in mind—to do good and share with others, and to invest in our relationships with you and with others. Thank you for this living hope and inheritance that will not fade away which you have freely given us in Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” –1 Peter 1:1-3