Day 1: Your heritage is awaiting you

The charter of the Christian faith is the New Testament. When we use the word "Testament," we're using it in the same sense in which we have the phrase "the last will and testament of so and so." In other words, by using that word we imply that something has been bequeathed to us through the death of another. The New Testament tells us all that has been made available to us through the death of Jesus on our behalf. It reveals our inheritance. It reveals that we are heirs of a Kingdom. Unfortunately, many Christians have never yet discovered what their real inheritance is or how to gain it. They are like a man who is an heir to a tremendous fortune but has never taken the steps to find out what his inheritance is, or to claim it. You don't want to be like that! Therefore, in the next couple of weeks, this new series of devotionals will help you discover and claim your inheritance as Christian.

The first Scripture that we will look at is Colossians 1:12-14, where Paul speaks of an inheritance which is laid up for God's people, an inheritance in light. Then he goes on to explain what has to happen if we are to gain our inheritance in light:

“Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us [or made us capable] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He [that is God the Father] delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Paul pictures here two kingdoms: the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. The kingdom of light is God's kingdom and the kingdom of Jesus Christ; the kingdom of darkness is Satan's kingdom. These two are in opposition, one to the other. Our inheritance is in the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ. But in order that we may be able to gain our inheritance, something has to happen first. We have to be delivered from the domain of darkness; that is, from Satan's power over us and over our lives. And this comes about through redemption, the redemption that God has provided for us through the death of Jesus on the cross. Through His redemption we can receive forgiveness of sins. Once we receive forgiveness of sins, Satan has no more legal claim over us, we are set free from his domain, and we are made capable to enter into our inheritance in the kingdom of light, the kingdom of Jesus Christ.