Friday, December 21, 2012

Perfect Gifts: Heaven

I have a priceless inheritance because of Jesus.


Ephesians 1:5, 11-14  God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure.  

11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan.   

12  God's purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God.  13  And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago.   

14  The Spirit is God's guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him.

1 Peter 1:4  and we have a priceless inheritance, an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.

God was very pleased to adopt me into his family and he would love for you to be a part of his family as well. Did you know that God loves adoptions? All of his family has been adopted! I am not talking about an adoption that is tainted with favoritism, to God an adopted child has the same rights as a natural born child, we all have the same rights that his own Son has.

As a child in God's family I have an inheritance that is beyond equal here on earth. Most of us don't have millionaires in our family tree but even if you do it doesn't measure up to being a child of the King of kings. Jesus has been preparing my inheritance for a long time now and he is using building materials that make our construction supplies look like junk.

What's in your future?

Revelation 21:1-4,7  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.   And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  3  I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, God's home is now among His people! He will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them.  4  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever." 7  All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be My children.
We usually keep God and man separate, we think of God living in heaven and our place to live is here on earth, but there is a day coming when we will be together. We will live in the presence of God for eternity if we are his children. We will have perfect fellowship with him because all sin will be erased and Satan will be defeated.

 Usually God is pictured as dwelling in heaven and people as dwelling on earth. In my eternal home there is no such distinction because God will live with his people in way that has never been experienced where God and his people live together in the closest fellowship.

If it hasn't been decided yet that you will spend eternity in heaven with God then you should make the decision to accept Jesus and his perfect gift of salvation so that your destination can be changed to heaven.