God's Inheritance In Us

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 1:18-19a

In this prayer for the Ephesians, Paul prays that they might come to see the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people. When people hear the word inheritance, everyone thinks in terms of the inheritance that we have in God, and the Scripture teaches that. He is our inheritance. He is like a great bank deposit of resources from which we can draw strength, comfort, encouragement, correction, and whatever else we need as we face problems in our lives. We can draw on God — daily, moment by moment. We have all sung hymns about it, and you have experienced it yourselves. But that is not what Paul is talking about here. He is talking about God's inheritance in us, and the enrichment that will come to our lives when we discover what it means to let God have what is his — his inheritance in us.

What is that? All through the Scriptures we are being told that, when we became Christians, God gave us gifts which we never had before. Every Christian has one or more, and they are given to us in order that, when we begin to exercise them, we find that we can help others and life becomes an exciting adventure of faith. God's inheritance in us is the joy he feels in using us to accomplish his work of changing people and bringing them from death to life, using the gifts he has given us. The apostle is saying that he wants us to discover how exciting and enriching that can be for us. Do you know that the greatest thrill that any human being can have is the sense that God has just used you to help somebody else? This is the most wonderful feeling that you can ever have. And God has given each of us gifts for that purpose.

Think about the gift God has given you, and put it to work in helping someone. Some have the gift of helps, some teaching, some administration, some wisdom, some knowledge, etc. All of these things are gifts that the Spirit of God has given to us. When we begin to exercise them, we lose the dullness and routine of our lives because we are caught up in an exciting ministry. When we do this, we discover the exciting riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.

Father, thank you that I am your inheritance. Teach me to use my gifts and thus to bring you more joy.