Verse of the Day - Lamentations 3:24

I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!"
~ Lamentations 3:24 (NLT)

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I looked at pictures on the news this morning of the flooding in the Mid-West and am so saddened for these people's losses. Terrible devastation of homes and belongings...

Our possessions are often what we consider our inheritance...Grandma's china hutch, Great-Grandpa's rifle, the photo albums that hold the faces of our past. And in a moment, they can be gone. Fires raging in the West, tornados in the South, floods in the Mid-West. Our "inheritance" can be laid waste, gone in a flash. We realize these things are temporal, but they have value to our hearts. They connect us with our ancestors, with who we are, and how we're fabricated. They become a part of our identity, and we pass them down to future generations so that they, too, will be connected to the lineage called "our family".

Jeremiah suffered great loss and sadness on this earth (a job most of us would not want to sign up for in ministry!), and was forced to look outside of the earthly belongings that we often cling to for stability and identity. He had to look to God as His inheritance, as his hope. He realized that although things looked very grim, God could not be taken from him. God was his inheritance! And so he chose to trust God, to believe that His love does not diminish or die, to know that although times were hard, God had not forgotten him. His identity and lineage was safe and secure in the Almighty God -- his inheritance!

If we are followers of Jesus Christ and, therefore, a child of God, we have an inheritance in the Father that goes so far beyond our ancestor's linens and coin collections. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, who can't be washed away by floods, or swept away by tornados, or burned away by fire. In fact, He is an eternal flame that burns within us, lighting our way, burning away the chaff of our sinful hearts for cleansing, and consuming our souls with a burning love. Our inheritance in God can never be removed. It is eternal...and that gives us HOPE!

Believer, whatever you're going through right now, know that you have hope in God, who is your eternal inheritance! His presence and love will never leave you, even if everything around you comes to ruin. Trust in the Lord, and in His loving heart for you. You are His child, and His heir. Take joy in the best inheritance you could ever have...a relationship with God, now and forever!

Love,
Joelene