Week 11, Day 4: The Nature of Our Inheritance
Today’s Reading: 1 Peter 3:1-4:19
Some thoughts from yesterday’s reading…
In 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter discusses the blessings of the eternal inheritance that we have, which is provided through Jesus Christ. He uses several words to describe the inheritance that we have in Christ, all of which should give us great hope as we struggle with the things of this life. Consider the inheritance that Peter discusses:
- Imperishable–There is nothing that can destroy this reward. There is no one who is powerful enough to do away with it, or take it away from us. We can have confidence that it will be there for us, when this life is over.
- Undefiled–This reward cannot be tarnished. There is nothing wrong with it. There is nothing evil about it. God has provided the perfect inheritance! We can be assured of the purity of the reward that God provides.
- Will not fade away–This inheritance will never be used up. We will never have to worry about running out of the reward. What God offers us, through Christ, is greater than anything that could be attained in this world.
- Reserved in heaven–God is taking care of our reward for us. It is there waiting for us is we remain faithful through this life. We don’t have to wonder if it is there, or not there. God has provided it. Christ has gone to prepare it. We now have to do our part to attain it!
- Protected by the power of God–Peter tells us that we are protected by the power of God for this inheritance. This is much like what Paul wrote in Romans 8:38-39. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. He is powerful enough to protect us for the inheritance. This doesn’t mean that nothing bad will happen, or that physical harm will not come to us. But, those things cannot separate us from our inheritance, if we remain steadfast to the end!
How can these not encourage us? We can make comparisons to the failure of worldly rewards and inheritances, but in reality there is no comparison. What God offers is far greater than the physical silver and gold that we can accrue here.
Peter tells us in this context (1 Peter 1:6) that we can indeed rejoice in the thought of what God has provided, even if we must suffer various trials for the time being. Whatever we must go through here will be worth the reward offered by God in the next life. And, we prove our faith and devotion by continuing to be faithful to God, no matter how bad the trials become (1 Peter 1:7).
EDIT: It was pointed out to me that I was careless in following the context of the passage above, in that it is the Christians who are protected, rather than the inheritance. This is absolutely correct! In my haste, I overlooked the small word “who” in verse 5, which changes the recipient of the protection from the inheritance to the Christians. I am going to change the point above to reflect this! Thanks to Chad for pointing this out to me, so that it is not incorrect! This is a good example of how a small mistake in a context can change the meaning pretty drastically.
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