It’s a letter we’d all like to receive. The envelope bears the return address of an unfamiliar law firm. With shaky hands, we tear open the envelope. Is it a lawsuit? A collection notice? No. It’s notification of a bequest from the estate of a long-lost relative.

You and I don’t have to fantasize about inheriting a valuable bequest. The Bible tells us we have already received an inheritance. It’s one that will never spoil, wear out, or run out. But sometimes we live like orphans, as if this inheritance is for someone else.

• We allow fear to control us, forgetting our heavenly Father will never leave us nor forsake us.
• We cling to unforgiveness, forgetting how much God has forgiven us.
• We avoid serving the Lord because it will be difficult or inconvenient, forgetting that God is El Shaddai, the all-sufficient God who empowers us to accomplish what He has called us to do.

Why would we live as orphans when we have this imperishable, royal inheritance? Maybe it’s because we’re too absorbed with this temporary life, and not focused enough on eternal values. We spend our lives amassing things—houses, cars, bank accounts, stuff.

But the older I get, the less attractive temporal things become. Maybe it’s because I’ve learned the hard way that stuff doesn’t satisfy. Perhaps it’s because I’ve lost people who are precious to me and I long for the day when I’ll see them again. Or it could be because, as this body begins to creak and complain, I long to be in a glorified body in the presence of the Lord of creation who bequeathed this inheritance to me.It’s time to stop living as orphans and remember who we are: royal children of the King!

“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”
(I Peter 1:3-4).