A Great Inheritance

Why the picture of my dad and I on top of Mt. Bierstadt, a mountain over 14,000 feet (a fourteener) in Colorado? You will hopefully see. Today our Tuesday Morning Bible Study was about Ephesians 1:15-23. These verses are about how we as Christians have claim, through Jesus Christ, to God's great hope, inheritance, and power. As I did my Bible study this week, I was struck by verses 17-19. Paul is talking when he says, "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength."

What if every day I laid claim to these verses? How would I be different? I know for one I could not be afraid. Also I would not be as concerned about numero uno, myself. But rather I would be free from fear and trepidation and free to love and serve others. I would be able to easily show others just how much Christ loves them. I think so many Christians, myself included, simply accept Jesus as their Savior, but are then unable to truly shed their worldy selves and continue to worry and strive for earthly glory. It is necessary that we, and by that I mean me, have to pray each day for "the hope to which he has called you(me), the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us (me) who believe."

At then end of our leader's talk, she told a story of climbing Pike's Peak (another fourteener in Colorado). She talked (and I am paraphrasing here) about how during the climb you are dying and you desperately want to turn around and go back down where it is easy to breathe and walk, but you keep climbing because you know it will be worth it. At the top of the mountain is this glorious view and just this sheer adrenaline of knowing you did it, you stuck with it. Believe me, she is right. She finished her talk with this statement, "If we cease to climb, then we will remain short-sided Christians." Those words challenged me. May I strive to know the hope, inheritance, and power God has given me by simply believing more in God and less in myself. Man, God is good.