Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)
This builds on previous posts. You can read Christ is My Inheritance; and Our Bigger Inheritance
God is Faithful
Thomas O. Chisholm (1866–1960) was born in a log cabin in Kentucky. He was educated at a little country schoolhouse and at age 16 began teaching there. He became a Christian at age 27 and, with no academic training, was ordained to the Christian ministry at age 36. Chisholm served as a pastor for a year, but an illness forced him to resign. Then he worked in the insurance business, suffered poor health most of his life, and never made much money. But he said, “God has given me many wonderful displays of His grace, mercy, and providing care which have filled me with astonishing gratefulness.”
We can give thanks for all things because our disappointments are but the Lord’s appointments. (A.W. Pink)
Chisholm wrote over 1,200 Christian poems over his lifetime. The best-known is the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” based on the Scripture above. The Bible sometimes speaks of the saving blessings and benefits Christ’s followers receive as our inheritance, our portion, or our heritage in Jesus.
Another Great Passage
1 Peter 1:3-4 is an important passage on our Christian inheritance. It says: “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.” Notice several things from this passage:
The Inheritance Belongs Only to Jesus’ Family
The Christian inheritance belongs only to people who are born again by God the Holy Spirit, adopted by God the Father, and walking with Christ as His little brothers and sisters. Without the family connection to God the Holy Trinity, we have no share in the Christian inheritance.
The Lord invites people from every nation, tribe, language, and ethnicity to return to Him. But Scripture says that we must accept, believe, cling to, trust, and rely on Jesus, God’s Son. Then we have eternal life (life with God) as a present and future possession. Those who refuse, reject, disobey, and deny Christ without repenting will never have and enjoy eternal life. God will continue to be angry with those people.1
An Invitation for You
If you are not yet a Christian in the Biblical way, ask God to make you a Christian now. If you are not sure, ask God the Spirit to make you certain now. Then you have a share in God’s richest treasures through Jesus. “The Lord of all richly blesses all who call on Him.”2
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again. Rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba,[g] Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. (Romans 8:14-17)
Other Things Perish
Pastor Thomas Brooks (1608–1680) said: “Earthly inheritances are like tennis balls, which are bandied up and down from one to another and in time wear out. Created things are all shadow and vanity, like Jonah’s leafy plant. We can sit under its shadow only a little while. It soon decays and dies; it quickly fades and withers. There is a worm at the root of all earthly inheritances that will consume them in time.”
Everything on earth is in the process of decaying, rusting, or falling apart. Our houses, cars, and most things we own all wear out and break down. Our human bodies are feeble and frail, too.
Our Inheritance in Jesus Cannot Perish
Our Christian blessings are as undying, enduring, and perpetual as the Lord Himself. Thankfully, Christians have been born again by God’s saving work that is ever-lasting, through God’s word that lives and endures forever.3 So our treasures in heaven with Christ can never be lost, and they will never lose value.4
A believer’s inheritance—our glory, our happiness, our blessedness—shall be as fresh and nourishing after we have been many thousands of years in heaven as it was at our first entrance into it. (Thomas Brooks)
Persecution (Past and Present)
Peter’s words above were very encouraging to Jesus’ followers in the 1st century. In 64 AD, Nero, the Roman emperor, began the fierce persecution of Christians, and some believers were burned alive. Peter’s first readers had already suffered much, and Peter was preparing them for future “fiery trials.”
Even today, the Pew Research Center reports that over 75% of the world’s population lives in areas with severe religious restrictions, and many Christians suffer under that. The United States Department of State reports that Christians in more than 60 countries face persecution from their governments or surrounding neighbors simply because of their allegiance to Jesus. Christians are imprisoned, tortured, raped, and killed because of their attachment to Christ. Many have their homes and other assets seized by persecutors.
In addition, natural disasters are on the rise. Recently, hurricanes hit Texas, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, causing fatalities and property damage. Hurricane Harvey hit Houston in 2017 and caused at least 107 confirmed deaths and $125 billion in property damage. Surely all Christians need reminding that our Christian salvation is imperishable because everything else can be taken away from us.
Myths of the Imperishable
The Greek word for imperishable in 1 Peter 1:4 is amarantos, and it literally means unfading. An ancient story said that amarantos was a flower hidden by Greece’s mythical gods, and that whoever found it would become immortal. One of Aesop’s Fables (6th century BC) said the amaranth flower would never lose its color or die, even if cut. In John Milton’s Paradise Lost (first published in 1667), the amaranth flower was said to grow in the Garden of Eden, near the Tree of Life. But all these stories are fiction, and we can’t hang our hope on legends.
Our Lord is True
Thank God, Scripture says the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are immortal, and He lives in unapproachable light. To Him be honor and might forever. Amen… Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.5
Prayer
We praise You, Lord, that in changing times, we have the unchanging God on our side. You are King forever and ever. You will never perish and You will never forget the needy. The hope of Your afflicted ones will never perish. We are blessed to be Jesus’ meek followers, for we will inherit a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. Amen.6
To be continued
Notes (various Bible translations): 1 John 3:36. 2 Rom 10:12. 3 1 Peter 1:23. 4 Matt 6:19–20. 5 1 Tim 6:16; Heb 13:8. 6 Ps 9:18, 10:16; Matt 5:5; 2 Peter 3:13.