We have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change or decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. —1 Peter 1:4-5
It literally seemed like it rained for 40 days and 40 nights in a row. And then, low and behold, something truly unique happened—something totally foreign, something totally strange. The day the church had the dining hall at the Harford Fair to serve its fundraising dinner for our new mission project ARC (Animal Resource Center), we, who were outside the hall eliciting help from passersby to make with us dog toys from old tee shirts, experienced the STRANGEST thing. The sun. The full sun. The full, glorious, wonderful, where-have-you-been sun.
Yes. It was weird! It was wonderful! The sensation of this big yellow glorious thing soaking into our skin for the first time in weeks was a huge gift, a pure delight. Thank you for this, dear Lord!
Outside all day with our inspiring, engaging kids, I wore sunblock over skin as pasty as a white sheet. As I was thinking about this passage from Peter, I realized the disciple Jesus prophetically called “the rock” is giving us something even more necessary. Peter is giving us sin block.
Am I the first to coin this phrase? If so, you already know what it means. Sin block is what blocks us from sin.
Sin block is what protects us—or gets us out from—sin. A way to get us out (or away from) our sinful behavior is to understand our better days are coming. We do have this priceless inheritance, an inheritance that is safeguarded in heaven for us. This inheritance, says Peter, is perfect—literally perfect—because it is beyond change or decay.
Let me get back to the fair for a moment. Remember your childhood days and that trinket you saw at the fair (or carnival or dime store) that you HAD to have. How happy you were with it!
But for how long?
My point is we have short-term wants and a lot of landfills that now fill what we truly, totally had to have.
But this inheritance? It is beyond the reach of our changing ways. And knowing we have this inheritance changes our ways. Those hard workers in the dining hall who put on our chicken and biscuit dinner had the stress of prepping and then manning this event that stretched from 8 AM to at least 8 PM (with more clean-up to follow).
Why? Why did (and do) they work so hard? Because they know their inheritance. It is not about the things that are now—the selfish, self-absorbed things of today. It is about the thing we will inherit, salvation. Those at the dining hall worked long, uncomfortable hours because they know what is coming—heaven—and they desperately want to share and show it through actions of love.
Wear sin block every day. To do so, know your inheritance.
PRAYER: Lord, thank You for the sun, yes. Thank You for Your Son, yes. He is the way to our priceless inheritance, which is our salvation through Him. And thanks, too, for chicken and biscuit dinners and amazing adults and kids who want Your love known, seen, experienced—and even tasted. Amen.