glorious inheritance

Sleep. I've always been good at this leisurely activity. In high school I would sleep until about 2 pm every Saturday. I could easily sleep for 14 hours straight. Going to sleep has never been a problem for me. However, finding time to sleep is a new obstacle.

If I wake up at 4:30 am then that means for a good 8 hour sleep I need to be in bed by... 8:30, right? WHO GOES TO BED AT 8:30?!?!?! Not I. I should go to bed then cuz I definitely need those sweet 8 hours, but there is still so much to be done at 8:30. I'm doing good if I'm in bed by 10. Ridiculous. Needless to say I feel that I am now in a constant state of yawning. I'd take a nap when I get home for work, but I go to sleep just a few hours after that so I feel like I'd be wasting time that could be better spent. I'll just pray that the Lord daily renews my strength.

So this book Crazy Love, and how obsessed I am with it. I just finished chapter 3. Basically it was about understanding the magnitude of being known by Jesus. We all grew up singing "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." But do we really only believe that He loves us because "for the Bible tells me so"? This was a question raised in the chapter that really hit me hard. About a year ago my mom gave me this wooden signing that says "Jesus knows me this I love." As cute as it is, it bothered me a little bit that the words were out of order. As I read this chapter though, I kept thinking about that phrase. Jesus KNOWS me. He knows me, Hannah King. There is nothing special about me, nothing worthy of being known by Him, and yet not only does He know me, but He knows EVERYTHING about me and has since before I was created (Jer. 1:5).

The following is a portion of the book that really hit me. I bet you can guess which two words I struggled hearing the most.

"The very fact that a holy, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, merciful, fair, and just God loves you and me is nothing short of astonishing.

The wildest part is that Jesus doesn't have to love us. He doesn't need me or you. Yet He wants us, chooses us, even considers us His inheritance (Eph. 1:18). The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us.

That really is amazing beyond description. The holy Creator sees you as His 'glorious inheritance.'

The irony is that while God doesn't need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don't really want Him most of the time. He treasures us and anticipates our departure from this earth to be with Him- and we wonder, indifferently, how much we have to do for Him to get by."

AH! SO STINKIN' GOOD! Ok, now lets go back to the part that hit me the most- "glorious inheritance." The reference to that is from Eph. 1:18. However, if you back up to verse 13-14 it says, "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory."

What is this inheritance? Is it Heaven? I think that that is part of it. But think about the word inheritance. Webster defines it as "to receive as an heir at the death of the previous holder." Our inheritance (now please know that this is only my interpretation) is Life. Jesus (the previous holder) died for you and me so that we could inherit life. And not just any life, but an enternal life with no pain, no sickness, no hurt. A life where all we do is worship God. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty! There really is no greater love than this! He died for us so that we could have Life. Think about this, He DIED for us, for me. And He KNOWS me, everything about me. I would not die for me. I've screwed up, I am very unworthy of this Life He freely gives, and yet, despite my unworthiness and knowing all my flaws, HE STILL DIED FOR ME!

I'm amazed.