Psalm 16:6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    surely I have a delightful inheritance.

This verse, on the face of it, refers to land received when Canaan was parceled out to the Israelites. However, it was a verse dearly loved by my father, and his father before him, and in their case it didn’t refer to real estate at all. We all inherit various things from previous generations, and the intangible is often far more important than the tangible. Sometimes that “inheritance” is evil, with generational curses, distorted values, and so on. However, in Christ all that is transformed. The New Testament has a lot to say about it, expressed perhaps most clearly by Peter: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5) When we are in Christ, it doesn’t matter so much what we do or don’t inherit from our physical family, because we have a magnificent inheritance through our union with Christ. On earth, even real estate can be swept away by natural disasters, and anything else is even more perishable, but our inheritance is in heaven, where “neither moth nor rust corrupt, nor thieves break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19-20) That is something to be deeply grateful for!

A friend of mine in Nepal has just lost his father, who was not a believer, and he is confronting this issue right now. I have no idea of any material inheritance issues there, but his father did not pass on faith in or knowledge of Christ; those things were given to my friend directly by his heavenly Father. I have another friend in Hong Kong who is in a similar situation. His father, though in poor health, is still alive, but he is stubbornly non-Christian. I can and do pray for such friends, and I continue to pray for a miracle in the case of Hong Kong, that the father would repent and believe while he has the opportunity, but I have no direct influence. I have deep sympathy but no honest empathy, because I come from generations of people who loved and served God. These friends of mine help me realize what incredible grace and blessings I have received, through no effort or even choice of my own. My point is what I do with what I have received, sharing God’s grace without hesitation. God has indeed met my physical needs, just as Jesus promised, (Matthew 6:33) but my stewardship of the spiritual riches God has poured out on me is even more important. I am grateful for this blog as one avenue for doing that, but I pray that I would indeed “make the most of every opportunity,” (Colossians 4:5) acting as God’s agent toward each person I encounter, for their blessing and God’s glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder, and for the incredible inheritance You have poured out on me. I pray that I would indeed be a good steward of it all, for the advancement of Your kingdom and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!