A few months ago, I read a story on my
iPad about a 60-year-old Japanese man who discovered that he’d been switched at
birth. Born into a noble family, this would-be prince was accidentally mixed up
in the hospital and raised by a single mother living on welfare. The other boy,
who was brought up in his place, became a successful realtor, while the actual
son struggled through various jobs and eventually became a truck driver. “I
wish I could turn back the clock,” he said. “I wish I’d been raised by my real
parents.”

We can’t help but feel sorrow for a
life marked by missed opportunities and roads not taken. After all, the real
son was denied a birthright that was his due. But this story should also
remind us of another— one that runs in the opposite direction. It’s a story
about those who are born with no inheritance and don’t deserve one, but are
given a gift beyond imagination.

In Christ, the eternal Son of God, we have
become heirs to an inheritance we don’t deserve—and could never attain. It’s a
spiritual inheritance – one of eternal life with God. “In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined
according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel
of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the
praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:11-12), ESV.

Sometimes when we hear the word
“inheritance” we tend to think of money or property handed down from generation
to generation. But the New Testament offers another perspective. As we trust in
Christ as our Savior, we become co-heirs with Him. We get to share in his
inheritance! That inheritance doesn’t involve houses or bank accounts, but
eternal communion with God. Unlike earthly goods, it can’t be frittered away or
depleted, and it doesn’t depend on biological ancestry.

I am so grateful that, through Christ,
we are all sons and daughters of the one true King – our Father God – and by
the power of the Holy Spirit, our identity and inheritance will never be lost.

I’m Joseph Tkach, Speaking of LIFE.