Wednesday, August 8, 2012
1 Peter 1:4-5 ... into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--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.
THE INHERITANCE
Hope looks forward. An inheritance usually looks back, back to things accumulated during a life-time of labor and care, which are then passed on to another generation. Sometimes those things are highly valued by the society in which we live. But if they are things, then they will need to be managed and properly used. They will need upkeep, repair, and perhaps even refurbishing. This is because all things -- even the bodies and lives that we received through our parents -- all things perish, spoil or fade.
But the living hope that God has given us is "out of this world," looks beyond this world to a living inheritance that is beyond the reach of death and all the ills that lead to it. Like Peter, we still look forward to this inheritance, to glorified bodies, incorruption, and immortality. It has all been prepared for us and waits for us on the last day.
What's more, God wants us to have this inheritance, which was prepared for us by His Son Jesus Christ, and He keeps us safe until we hear the "reading of the will" -- Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. It is God's power that persuades us to trust Him throughout the long journey, in every temptation and trial shielding us from throwing it all away.
May we, body, soul, and spirit, Live devoted to His praise,
Glorious realms of bliss inherit, Grateful anthems ever raise!
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 129:3)
