You Might Have An Inheritance Coming

In my own personal reading and study time today, I read part of Ephesians.  I stopped at Ephesians 3:6 which says  that “the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body…”.  It made me think, if you were an heir of some rich or famous person that you knew had left you an inheritance, wouldn’t you want to know what it was?  If you got the call from the attorney who said, “you are the heir of so and so…and we want you to come to a reading of the will”, would you go?  Would you make time for it?  Would you ignore it?  Would you put it off?  Most of us would be on our way two hours early, excitedly waiting to hear what so and so had given us.  Here’s the real question:  If the Bible is true, and we actually are heirs as it says in Ephesians, don’t you want to know what you have inherited?  Don’t you want to see what is coming to you?  Would you make time for it?  Would you ignore it?  Would you put it off?

Spend some time today reading the Word…seeing what God has left you as an inheritance.

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Forgiveness as Outreach?

Think about how powerful the simple act of forgiveness is and what impact offering it can have on the people around us. Most of us are wronged daily; the wrong meal at lunch, no wave from the guy you let in or who cut you off in traffic, some other guy takes credit for what you did at work. How do we respond? On the one hand, we can act like everyone else in the world – selfishly: We are the victim wronged yet again. We elevate ourselves and our needs above everyone else. Anything not done quite to our expectation and liking is a tragedy. It’s pretty hard to make a case for being a light in this world when we carry that kind of chip around on our shoulder; not exactly conducive to planting seeds with people for Christ. When we’re wronged, how else can we respond? We can give lip service forgiveness. How many times have you responded to a waitress’ apology for an incorrect meal with, *sigh* “I guess it’s ok” or “it’s fine”. We might even pat ourselves on the back for that one while we tell ourselves or those with us that you could have “let her have it, but you decided to show some mercy”. Oh really? Did that sigh show mercy? Did you forgive from your heart (Matt 18:35)? What did she think about you when she saw your head bow to pray immediately following your lip service? Is this behavior conducive to planting seeds with people for Christ? I’ve committed this lip service forgiveness more times than I care to admit. Lastly, when we’re wronged, we could, just possibly truly forgive. People in our society are so unaccustomed to being truly forgiven for indiscretions that it must seem completely foreign when it does happen. But this is why truly forgiving people around us, especially people we don’t know, is an excellent witnessing tool. Because forgiveness is so foreign, when people experience it, they’ll be confused by it and want to know where it came from. True forgiveness is what we learn from the cross. As with our children, disobedience cannot go unpunished. We correct them because we love them…God does the same for us. But the only correction to satisfy our sins is death (Romans 6:23); yet, our Father, sent His son to die in our place even though the death deserved is our own. His innocent blood was shed as an offering to pay for our sins. From this sacrifice we are forgiven when we believe, and if God can forgive us, we can and should forgive others. You can plant a seed this week by showing someone what forgiveness looks like by truly forgiving. But remember, if someone tries to give credit for the forgiveness you offer, don’t take the credit…all glory belongs to God who taught us what true forgiveness looked like in the shadow of the cross…be sure they know that. It is a wonderful tool for outreach.

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