It’s Friday…Rise Up and Receive An Inheritance

Happy Labor Day weekend. Most of us live our lives with a conscious focus. We have a vision of what we would like to be, or how we would like to live, and we pursue it. That vision can be shaped primarily by work, relationships, lifestyle, family, location, leisure, or any combination thereof. But few people live with a focus on the end of days. Few are single-minded about the inheritance to come.

That’s true not only of those unaware of the good news of God’s grace, but also of those of us who have believed in it for a long time. We’re very conscious of the principle of Matthew 6:33 – “Seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” – but we easily become absorbed in the “all these things.” Our focus on eternal fruitfulness fades into the more urgent awareness of this month’s bills, or that opportunity that’s slipping away, or that home we want to buy, or. . .well, you know what else is on your list. The point is that priorities are subtle in the ways they shift, and we can mistakenly think we’re focused on an eternal inheritance while we’re really driven by an immediate agenda.

“At the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.”  (Daniel 12:13)

Unlike Daniel, we don’t have a visible angel reminding us to set our hopes on the end of days. We do, however, have testimonies just as valid, even more so. We have God’s written Word, we have the encouragement of His Spirit within us and in the believers around us, and we have visible evidence that our bodies don’t last forever. Together, they point us to ultimate goals, the final day when God settles everything, the rewards of the Kingdom that are promised us many times in Scripture. We have no reason not to lay up treasures in heaven rather than anxieties on earth.

Let’s remind ourselves constantly of our true focus. Let’s realize that our decisions are not a matter of the next few years and decades but of the age to come, and let’s base our decisions on that realization. Let’s remember that at the end of days, we’ll Rise Up and Receive an Inheritance.

Have a prosperous weekend. Make it better by worshiping The LORD with those who are focused on the eternal life because it directs and blesses their lives today as well as the lives of others around them.

All For Jesus – Nothing More, Nothing Less, Nothing Else.

“He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, The King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15b-16)