Good morning. As I was growing up, part of my summer experience was to root for the Minnesota Twins, and to root against the New York Yankees. The Twins were our home state heroes, and the Yankees were the spoiled rich kids who bought their way to success. Perhaps because of their wealth, they seemed to have unreasonable power over the league office and Major League Baseball as a whole. The problem wasn’t so much the players, it was the owner who was so easy to hate.
The owner of the New York Yankees at that time was George Steinbrenner, a very wealthy, spoiled rich kid of a New Yorker who was never shy about offering the biggest contracts to lure players to his team. It was said of Steinbrenner that he got his money the old-fashioned way, he inherited it. I know that line is supposed to end, “he earned it” but no one ever accused George Steinbrenner of an honest day’s work. If that sounds mean, well…I still root against the Yankees, pretty much for the same reasons.
Thinking of Steinbrenner causes me to reflect on what it would be like to have been born into a family where incredible wealth was your birthright. Alas, I’ll never know, because my relatives/ancestors could have been accused of that hard day’s work, but material wealth was never part of the picture.
Poor me? Does that description regarding relatives describe your situation as well? That’s okay. You and I do have wealth waiting for us. You and I do have an inheritance coming that is nothing short of spectacular. Consider this from Romans 8:16-17
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Our inheritance is not of the stuff that spoils, rusts, fades, or anything that can be stolen away. Our inheritance is joined to all that our Father God is about, all that our “fellow heir”, Jesus, enjoys and represents.
Is all of this waiting for us in heaven? Well, yes, heaven awaits with incredible glory. But there is more. Our inheritance as we become one with Jesus Christ is immediate as well as eternal. Ours is a peace that surpasses understanding. Ours is a heart so kind that all the meanness of this world cannot diminish or deter it. Ours is a love so fresh, so real, so powerful that nothing from our enemy will ever overcome it. We have friendship in Christ, purpose in life, love in our hearts, hope guiding our spirit. We have Jesus, now and forever, we have Jesus.
Vern