More Than We Deserve

Sunday, September 7, 2008
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Romans 8:17 – 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. (NIV)

My wife, Evelyn, and I had to sign a couple of financial forms the other day, designating our children as co-heirs. I guess we've reached that time of life when we have to think carefully about our future. It's not easy to process internally, because it involves thinking about a time when we will no longer be in the world, and our children will continue with their own lives. What we wanted to ensure was that our finances would be shared equally amongst them, should anything ever happen to us.

It's not a very happy subject for a devotional, but it is an important one. What we leave to our children expresses how much we love them. A stewardship-orientated pastor would use this lesson to get people to thinking about how much they should leave to the church, as an expression of their love of God, but that's not what this text is about.

What Paul is describing is the grace of God. Let us think about it: Jesus did all the hard work of laying down His life for our sins, of giving up everything so that we might be forgiven. We might think that because Jesus did this, He would inherit all of God's blessings. Yet God's grace goes beyond that, because He makes us co-heirs with Christ.

Some people don't get it when they first glance at this passage. They don't understand how profound a blessing this is. We, who are wretched and unholy — compared to God, compared to Christ — become co-heirs of everything that God has to offer. We, who once were sinful creatures, become the joint heirs of heaven, earth, and the whole of creation. It is astounding. It is astonishing. It is amazing.

Prayer: Lord God, we know that we do not deserve Your grace. We perfectly understand how unworthy and unholy we actually are. Yet, through the abundance of Your love and by Christ's sacrifice, we are destined to become the heirs of everything You have made. This is so remarkable that mere words cannot express our delight. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

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About the author:

John Stuart <traqair@aol.com>
Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

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