Walk
323. You can choose
how to “ Spend Your Inheritance”
Through many
experiences with my own flesh, my own natural inheritance and with many of my own
children, I understand that we can choose how we spend our Adamic
inheritance. Notice, I did not say
we could choose IF we will spend it or IF we have it to spend. We do have a cursed inheritance (Exodus 34,
Jeremiah 31) and we will spend it.
One other point, when I say ‘WE’ I am talking about God’s children, the
righteous.
I see three
Bible biographies that illustrate what I am talking about.
1. Lot.
It was stated that he was a righteous man, a defeated righteous
man. Did he go to heaven? Yes. Did he live a defeated life on earth? Yes. He pitched his tent towards Sodom and did not go all the way
with Abraham. He had a love for
the world. When he spoke to the
people in Sodom about God, they laughed at him. That was enough to shut him up for good. He even got into a “mixed marriage” and
married a non-believer. Actually,
she pretended to be a believer, but history proved she was not. He ended up getting drunk and having
sex with his own daughters. He did
not even appreciate God when Abraham risked his life and entire financial
empire to save him.
I believe that Lot was living out his inheritance that he received
from his family line, all of the curses coming down from Adam, and more
specifically from his mother and father.
He did indeed spend it.
However, he did not return to God and his eternal inheritance until he
left this planet and went to heaven.
2. The Prodigal in Luke
15.
I believe that this boy had the same problem that Lot had
(actually, that we all have): he was stuck with a bad inheritance. Romans 3 says that none are righteous,
all have gone astray. This was his
destiny. However, the boy chose to
leave all of the principals that he had learned about his new inheritance, his
blood covenant with God. Had the
boy just gone on and not “wearied in well doing”, had he pressed into God and
the Word, he would not have had to spend his inheritance in such a devastating
way. But, thank God, he was a step
above Lot’s life. He got back to
God and received his eternal inheritance, his blood covenant with God, while he
was still alive on earth.
3. Abraham.
Now Abraham also had a bad inheritance, which he needed to “spend”
and get rid of. His family was
into worldly wealth, moon worship and perhaps even sacrificing their children
on the altars of Molech. But it is
said of Abraham that he hoped beyond hope, he believed God, no matter
what. He was honest with God and
took time to hear Him speak. He
was not ashamed of God. He was not
ashamed to say he had been having a conversation with an invisible God, and
that was the reason that he was doing all those unreasonable things. He didn’t mind leaving all of his
security, wealth, and worldly comforts; they paled compared to what he had
seen.
In effect, he kept his hand in God’s hand. He saw the
value of the covenant. He knew
that God could not lie, and that a blood covenant with the Creator was worth
more than anything on this earth.
He had experienced the Presence of the Creator because of his meekness
and appreciation and obedience.
Even when he blew it, he came back and received forgiveness.
The payoff came when Abraham spent his inheritance. God was
holding his hand all the way up the hill with Isaac (Genesis 22). Abraham was not rebelling against God
by taking his son up the hill.
Abraham was obeying God.
What a paradox. Actually,
had he never met God, Abraham would have lost his son anyway. Why? That was his fleshly inheritance. It was written on his DNA. He was destined to be childless. That was his inherited curse.
What I am proposing is that when one has a heart like Abraham,
that God will actually take him into his curses full faced. But with one such as this, God will
have the Lamb of God in the thicket ready to accept the curse on his
behalf.
We can, by
God’s grace, be more like Abraham than the other two characters.
We don’t have to
be some perfect religious freaks; we can be real like Abraham. We are saved by grace through faith,
and even that is the gift of God lest any man should boast. But Abraham and his faith do indeed
stand for me as a reminder that we have to push in, be obedient to the small
things of integrity and honesty, be not weary in well doing, go beyond the
hurting point, push through the pain and keep trusting God.
That usually means in the menial and mundane tasks and
relationships of life. Matthew 24
and 25 keep emphasizing that we need to take care of the little things, the
little relationships, the little moral choices, the little ways we treat
others, and God will take care of the big things. It’s easy to trust God when you see Him on the mountain, but
the rubber meets the road in the little things.
Summary.
We need to know
that we are born with an involuntary “computer program” in our DNA which goes
off and does horrible things which God never intended for humans to
experience. This was the fallout
from the “Fall.” The good news is
that we can choose how that happens in our life.
Lot returned to his God and the covenant when he left planet
Earth. Actually, that didn’t take
long. Life is short and the “Clock
of Life” is ticking.
The Prodigal in Luke 15 returned to God and the blood covenant
while he was still on Earth.
Fortunate boy!
But Abraham kept his hand in God’s hand and didn’t have to “come
back.” God and Abraham spent their
inheritance together. That not
only was advantageous to Abraham, but I feel that it makes things worthwhile
for the Creator when He is trusted to this degree.
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