“in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of His will; to the end that we should be unto the praise of His glory, we who had before hoped in Christ:” Ephesians 1:11-12 (ASV)
Recently I was invited to a new friend’s home for lunch after church. God has richly blessed this couple and their home was amazing. Everywhere I looked was just . . . “Wow!” When I returned home that evening I was flooded with memories of my childhood home. For days I couldn’t shake it. Depression set in. It was a heritage that I could not shake, even though my life is so much different now.
Growing up in the 50’s in a small desert town is a whole world away from the way things are today. No running water, outhouses (I’m still not very fond of those things), no cooling, only the kitchen stove for heating, bare cement floors, and the backseat out of an old Chevy for a sofa. Bed was blankets on old steel springs, no mattress. I remember, many mornings, getting up to my mom melting down icicles on the stove so we could have water. There was a wind driven fan in the wall that helped bring air into the home during the summer. We would lay on the cool cement floor under that fan to take naps; mom stuffed a wooden spoon between the blades to make it stop at night. Meals were jackrabbit, catfish and pinto beans, unless a neighbor brought us a chicken. My worldly heritage.
I remember telling God that I would never return to an area like that. In recent years I have walked into homes with similar conditions and physically shook. I told God that I couldn’t be there, I couldn’t think there, I couldn’t breathe there. His voice came gently, “how can you minister to them if you don’t see where they are from, if you don’t find common ground.” It was my call to show them the heritage that God held for them, far beyond the physical conditions where they currently existed.
God’s Heritage, created for us before the foundations of the earth, is eternal life (John 3:15). A life free from pain and illness. A life free from tears, sorrow, worry and doubt (Revelation 21:4). A heritage of being an heir with His son, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17). A heritage of a mansion, built specifically for us, at the hands of Jesus himself (John 14:2).
When we hear the call on our lives we become partakers with Jesus, reaching out to a lonely broken world (Ephesians 3:6). We become workers of the gospel, sharing with all the promise of the heritage they have waiting for them, if they would only believe. We testify and share the very gifts that God has given to us, as He has willed for us to do; as well as those who will follow after. And in that labor we find fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11), praising and worshipping our God for the gift of His manifested glory in our lives (John 1:14), filled with grace and truth.
Lord, let us remember that we are your hands and feet to this world of hurting and wounded people. Help us to walk past the difficult memories of our worldly heritage and share a story of hope with those whose lives rest in similar circumstances, giving them hope of a new and wonderful inheritance with You. Let our testimony of rising above our circumstances be the key to their faith in a new life in You. Please give us the strength.
**A Journey through Ephesians – Chapter 1, Part 7
Written by Linda J. Humes
8-31-14
Linda J. Humes 
Wonderful! Thank you, Linda.
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