Inheritance

I've been studying inheritance - in a biblical context - and I've been thinking...

What have I inherited from the people who have gone before me?

Okay, so here's where I have a choice. I can list the woes, baggage, and wounds (and believe me when I say there are days I want to sit in the middle of the muck and make grand creations out of it), or I can pull up my feet, even if my shoes get left behind, and walk away on more solid ground on paths that take me somewhere.

As I walk onward and look around, here's what I see.

From my parents...unconditional love, confidence to dream big, and permission to be imperfect yet significant in my own parenting.

From friends through the years...ability to say goodbye, comfort of being cared for when I refused to care for myself, and assurance that rejection leads to opportunity.

From strangers and people of brief encounters...freedom to explore and grow and well-timed encouragement and assistance.

What have you inherited from others? What building blocks of yesterday are under your feet today? What tools do you carry around with you daily because they were generously shared with you?

Inheritance is more than what you have in your hands today. It's where you've been and where you're going. It's your territory. God-given. We live on earth, where humans mess up all the time, so our God-given territory is thorny, muddy, rocky. But it's also fruitful, fragrant, gorgeous.

We can choose to deny anything beautiful exists within the boundaries of our inheritance. We can choose to deny anything ugly exists within the boundaries of our inheritance. What we choose to believe about our inheritance doesn't change the reality.

We give an inheritance to others every day in how we invest in people with our actions and attitudes. Inheritance isn't about what we give after we die. Inheritance is now. Today.

What will you give to others today? What building blocks will you carefully place under someone's feet to encourage them on tomorrow's journey? What tools will you generously share with someone today so she has what she needs on her journey through the thorny, fruitful, muddy, fragrant, rocky, gorgeous territory that is her inheritance?

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

Church Signs

I typically don't like phrases on church signs. They seem contrite, giving unsolicated advice or simple solutions to life's problems. People who drive by might be experiencing chaos and read something like...

• Don't wait for 6 strong men to take you to church.
• Give Satan an inch and he'll be a ruler.
• God answers "Knee Mail."

Here's what annoys me the most. 1) Signs that ask questions but don't provide answers. 2) Signs that include mispellings or incorrect word usage. 3) Signs that sound superior, assuming the sign-maker has all the answers, and the passerby is being enlightened.

In my opinion, church signs should be kept simple: worship service times, sermon topics, community service, program opportunities, and basic Bible verses. Let's quit trying to reword what God has to say in cutesy and humorous ways and just say it as God says it.

Okay, now that I've slammed most church signs (and potentially offended many of you who enjoy posting them), I have to admit I was caught off guard today when I drove by a church and saw this sign on the marquee:

Give your life to Jesus. He can do a lot more with it than you can.

Well, it made me pause and consider what I'm holding back from God. How I'm a barrier to my own purpose because only when I'm willing to give everything about myself to him so he can shape and use me however he intends am I really going to be fulfilling my pure purpose.

Other people who drove by the same church sign today probably had varying responses. They might not know what "give your life to Jesus" means. They might have been wounded by someone in a church at some point, someone who said similar words but didn't live them out. So the sign stirred up anger. And others might have seen so many contrite comments on church signs, they now easily ignore them.

But I realized today that God speaks to me in ways in which I thought I'd closed my ears and eyes.

• When do you tend to not look and listen for God and therefore don't expect to see and hear from him?
• What are you holding back from God?
• Do you believe: "Give your life to Jesus. He can do a lot more with it than you can."?

You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. - Deuteronomy 30:20 (NLT)