Live Out Your Inheritance
ICS Daily Devotions
Ephesians 1:17-19 (NJKV) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
The Apostle Paul didn’t want the saints to be ignorant about their inheritance because he knew it would dramatically change their lives. He wanted them to experience that “Aha!” moment when their spiritual eyes would be enlightened to understand what they had inherited through Christ. To recognise what belonged to them, they needed the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Likewise, we too have an inheritance in Christ. This inheritance refers to our new identity in Christ, which encompasses all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places that the Apostle Paul spoke about in Ephesians 1:3-14. This rich inheritance belongs to us. Therefore, we need to live it out.
Throughout our lives, we have different cheerleaders. As children, our parents serve as our cheerleaders. Then, friends and classmates act as our cheerleaders, especially on social media. When we start our careers, we seek approval and praise from our superiors. As we seek validation, affirmation, and praise from others, we base our worth and attach our identity to our achievements and these validations and affirmations. Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world that operates on conditional love, where people likely cheer for us only when we are at the prime of our lives. When our identity is shaken or lost, can we still be effective in what we do, especially in our calling? Most people struggle to get back on their feet again. The person who hurts us the most is often the one we have empowered by allowing their thoughts, words, and judgements to affect us. All too often, we have given others too much influence due to our insecurities and fear of rejection, which ultimately leads to our own misery.
Do you know that you only need one cheerleader in your life, and that is God? We should seek God’s approval and validation alone. What He thinks, how He views us, and what He says about us should matter the most in our lives because He is our Heavenly Father and Creator. He owns us, having saved us through Jesus Christ. He should be the dearest person in our lives because He will work through the Holy Spirit to guide, comfort, and exhort us, reminding us of His word when we need it most. As we live out our identity in Christ and walk in His calling, God will give us godly wisdom for us to do well. We will also be at rest with nothing to prove and nobody to impress except God.
Sermon Series : You Have A Calling!
