God's Inheritance
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. (Italics mine.) (Ephesians 1:18)
Spiritual growth begins and ends with God. That does not mean that we don’t ask, seek, and knock. It does mean that we understand that God is the source of all the good gifts that he gives us and that the greatest gift God gives is a greater knowledge/revelation of himself. As we grow in that revelation knowledge, we begin to experience some powerful things in our hearts. One of those things is hope. We talked about that yesterday. But there is something else our Father wants to reveal to us.
He wants us to know just how precious we are to him. In fact, we are his “riches.” We are his “inheritance.”
In the passage above, God’s people are referred to as his holy people. Holy means to be set apart or, if you will, special. Think about that - You are special to God! You are gold. You are the inheritance that he is waiting and longing for. As you begin to wrap your heart around this incredible truth (or maybe I should say - as God begins to wrap your heart around it), you will not only begin to love God more; you will begin to love yourself more.
Is it wrong to love ourselves? Well, yes, it is if our love is a selfish, narcissistic love. But the problem with many of us is that we don’t love ourselves as we should. We don’t celebrate the wonderful creations we are in Christ. Our self-image is so poor. We live with guilt, shame, and feelings of inferiority that often find their source in the world.
“But Dan, what about my sin?” I’m not condoning sin, nor am I encouraging a lifestyle of license, but I want you to understand something very important. Two things, really. First, sin is something we are all going to struggle with all our lives. There is no such thing as sinless perfection in this life. It’s easy to become so focused on our sin, so obsessed with our failures that we forget who we are in Christ.
And that brings me to the second thing I want you to understand. God, your Father, loves you today, just as you are, warts and all!
It’s true - God loves us too much to leave us where we are; he wants us to grow in faith and holiness. But the awesome truth is that your Father loves you today in all your ugliness, faithlessness, and foolishness.
You are his inheritance, his riches. He has set you apart. He adores you, cherishes you, and loves you more than you will ever fully know. Would you pray this prayer with me today -
Father, thank you for loving me right now, today, just as I am. Help me to learn to love myself so that I can learn to love you more, and to love others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
In Christ,
Dan