S135P3 – The promise of hope: our inheritance
Tit. 3:4-7
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
The scene in this film was classic in its portrayal of the potential beneficiaries waiting anxiously to hear the attorney read the will. The group was comprised of family members, close friends and domestic employees. Each had a hope of receiving something from the decedent, but no one had a guarantee of that. With sweaty palms and jittering legs, they sat and listened. As the attorney read, some faces lit up with smiles while others fell and became completely downcast. The common issue was that no one knew how that man would divide the inheritance he left. It was all a guess until they heard their names being called out.
Those of us who have become children of God and will share in an inheritance through Christ know what we will be receiving. The scriptures tell us what our inheritance will be. Paul says that we have “become heirs according to the hope of eternal life”. This is a clear picture of the exchange which occurs through justification. We are born in sin being heirs according to the curse of death. Without Christ, that is what we can await. When we are justified through him, we become children of a new Father, and we have a new inheritance, which is certain. This certain inheritance is our hope of eternal life. Those who are the children of God know with certainty that they will receive this bequest.
This hope of eternal life that we carry is not only deliverance from death, but it comes with relief from every evil we must experience in this life. There is no issue, problem, concern, pain, struggle, headache or danger that will remain. The eternal life for which we hope will be perfect, and we cannot even imagine now what that perfection will look like then. We have no frame of reference. We do not know what perfection is, because we cannot see or experience it here. Once we receive our inheritance, our hope of an eternal perfect life will move from hope to living reality. Father, thank You for making us heirs with your Son, and keep us focused on that hope as we live through imperfection.