There’s a lot of talk about inheritance in the news at the moment, and especially “inheritance tax”. Different political parties have different policies, but all of them seem to be advocating that, one way or another, it’s here to stay.
In practice that means that if someone has left you something in their will – or indeed, if you try to leave something for others – you may need to take such a tax into account.
As we saw last Sunday morning from Deut Ch 18, the Old Testament people of God were likewise concerned with inheritance, but in the case of the Levites who were set aside to facilitate the worship of the LORD, their inheritance was something very special:
“LORD is their inheritance, as he promised them.” (Lev 18:2)
In practice it meant that they couldn’t pass farms or family land on to the next generation – though Joshua Ch 21 tells us that they did have some towns to live in and land to use for animals, it was never understood to belong to them… they had an infinitely better source of security!
As Christians we too have the LORD as our inheritance. His promises are never broken, unlike any other kind of inheritance, He will never perish, spoil or fade and in terms of value, He is absolutely priceless!
To have the LORD – a relationship with Him, being able to depend on Him and the certainty of a future with Him forever – is more than words can describe!
In the meantime, Peter reminds us that
“…now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” (1 Peter 1:6)
Yet still we can “greatly rejoice” ! In the weeks ahead, let’s work hard to do that.
Spencer Shaw