The
Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if
children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we
suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:16-17
The
Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath
untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? This
daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not
to have been set free on the Sabbath day from this bondage?” Luke 13:15-16
Piety
 |
| Rembrandt's The Prodigal |
“As I look at my own aging hands, I know that
they have been given to me to stretch out to all who suffer, to rest upon the
shoulders of all who come, and to offer the blessing that emerges from the
immensity of God’s love.” (Henri Nouwen, “The Return of the Prodigal Son,”
Epilogue.)
Study
Christians, by reason of the Spirit’s
presence within them, enjoy not only new life but also a new relationship to
God, that of adopted children and heirs through Christ, whose sufferings and
glory they share. Jesus puts that new
relationship on display as he heals the crippled woman on the Sabbath.
This new relationship as heirs to his same suffering
destiny may not be what we have in mind when we think about an
inheritance. To us, inheritance is (usually)
something good. Money. Property.
Family jewelry. Heirlooms. Inheritance has an almost universally
positive meaning.
We would not typically equate suffering with
inheritance. However, we do inherit a genetic
makeup from our birth parents. Sometimes
that passes on to us negative factors and a propensity for disease like heart
problems, cancer or more. In addition,
an inheritance also might create for us a tax obligation based upon the value
of the estate that we receive. We have
to take the good with the bad.
The same is true of our inheritance with
Christ. We have to accept the good
(Glory) with the need for the bad (Suffering).
We cannot have one without the other.
In addition, inheritance also means we might
be gaining something but we have lost out on a relationship which was close to
us. In the case of Jesus, we inherit his
estate yet we have not lost him.
Jesus accepts the good and the bad of his
inheritance. Today, the good is his
healing of the crippled woman. The bad
is the betrayal that is brewing among the leaders of the temple after he
humiliates them publicly.
Action
As you look at your aging hands, what will be
your non-monetary estate? What have you
inherited that cannot be counted on a balance sheet of assets and liabilities?
One hundred years
from now
It won't matter
What kind of car I drove
What kind of house I lived in
How much money I had in the bank
Nor what my cloths looked like
BUT
The world may be a little better
Because, I was important
In the life of a child.
It won't matter
What kind of car I drove
What kind of house I lived in
How much money I had in the bank
Nor what my cloths looked like
BUT
The world may be a little better
Because, I was important
In the life of a child.
Excerpt from
"Within My Power" by Forest Witcraft
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