“Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” Romans 8:17 NIV
I know a man who passed away somewhat recently, and left his three children over one million dollars each in addition to a substantial sum for his wife. That’s a lot of money. It makes life here a little easier to live; it gives breathing room and a sense of security when one receives over a million dollars. It can puff up one’s sense of self and change how one looks at those who haven’t received such a windfall. However, that inheritance had to be divided amongst the heirs. Remember that later.
As humans, we will all be heirs twice. The first is short term and earthly, like the money each of those kids now possess. The second is eternal; it’s the after-death inheritance which is either glory with God in heaven, or a lake of fire and the weeping and gnashing of teeth in hell. As Americans, we’ve been programmed to focus on being and leaving heirs of great fortunes. Americans esteem those who have wealth because they have status and wield influence. We are enticed by those who flaunt their money, homes, cars, vacations, clothes, and every other fleshy thing. A 2021 study reported that 79% of Americans stated that more money would make them happier. So many of us labor for future financial security, hoping to create and inherit fortunes, and leave bigger ones behind. As Zig Ziglar points out, “Money might not make you happy, but everybody wants to find out for themselves.”
Leaving earth behind, what kind of inheritance will we receive after death? For believers, let’s see Romans 8:17. We will be glorified heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ. The caveat is that we also must share Christ’s suffering with Him. That’s why He lives in us as the Holy Spirit. He’s been through more human suffering than any human ever, and He knows we can’t do it if He’s not with us, so He got in us. Now we have the power to suffer with Him through this progressively depraved world. We don’t conform to this world by thinking like this world. We transform by renewing our minds to a biblical view, and thus equip ourselves to discern the will of God and know what is good, acceptable, and perfect in God’s eyes. When we close our earthly eyes for the last time and become present with the Lord, He gives us our eternal inheritance and we get to live in pure, unblemished bliss with God.
Remember how the heirs of the man I mentioned had to share a divided inheritance? Well, we are co-heirs with Jesus, and that means everything He has in the kingdom of heaven is ours too. No divided estate, no bickering about who got more, no energy spent on anything except worship for God and the blissful blessings of our inheritance of the kingdom of heaven. Each time we get to thinking about this blip of time we must suffer through as our earthly world spins further out of order, we need a renewed thought that it’s part of the plan to get us to the other side where Jesus has prepared mansions for us. Mansions prepared by Jesus, the kingdom of God as our inheritance, and perfection in every facet of life forever. That’s our true inheritance. I can’t even imagine it, but I can hardly wait.