“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (I Peter 1:3-5)

There is so much in these three verses!  We are born again by God’s grace through faith in Jesus who died for us and raised to life again thereby giving us a sure and eternal inheritance with Him in heaven, in which we hope joyously and praise God abundantly!  But let’s focus this morning on the fact that our inheritance (as sons and daughters of God and as co-heirs with Christ through faith) is eternal, always new, and sealed in heaven itself, protected by God Himself.  And what is this inheritance?  It is our salvation into eternity with God, who knows us as His children and as His friends; to those He rejects He will say, “I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers.”  The inheritance also includes the rewards spoken about based on how we handle the tasks and talents we’ve been given by God.  These are all imperishable things, waiting for us in heaven!  It reminds me of when I was moving to college from Japan to the U.S., because it was probably the first time in my life when I looked in my box of personal trinkets and belongings that I had saved up over my life and decided that I wasn’t attached to them like I had been up to that point.  Before I could change my mind, I started giving it away to my siblings, and I don’t think I ever seriously regretted it.  It wasn’t much, but it felt as if I had loosened chains from this earth.  I had the same feeling when I got rid of all my furniture when I moved from Kansas to Maryland many years ago.

Personal belongings are the obvious example of how we can be too attached to our earthly life and be distracted from keeping the main thing the main thing.  But what are the sneaky things that we don’t notice?  This coronavirus lockdown is revealing something about me that I knew before but wasn’t realizing the impact.  I can easily get caught up in my work, to the detriment of people.  That is, I can be a Martha; I can prioritize work for someone than the actual someone.  Even this week I had to ask myself, if I were to die next week, how much of my work would survive?  And then, how much would survive eternally?  I was able to finish Through Gates of Splendor this past week, and was blessed by the fact that the five men who were killed while trying to bring the gospel to killers never looked back.  Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”  Nate Saint said, “When life's flight is over, and we unload our cargo at the other end, the fellow who got rid of unnecessary weight will have the most valuable cargo to present to the Lord.”  The five wives said when discussing the possibility of becoming widows, “What would we do?  God gave us peace of heart, and confidence that whatever might happen, His Word would hold….  God and His work held first place in each life.  It was the condition of true discipleship; it became devastatingly meaningful now.”  Would we really “give my final breath to know You in Your death and resurrection” as we sang during Home Group?  How can we keep God and His work first place in our lives?  How can we see heaven as our home, not earth?  It may come a tiny bit easier for me as a missionary kid – for a while when people asked me where I was from (something no MK ever knows how to answer), I would respond, “from heaven,” but that seemed to confuse people even more!  But perhaps we as citizens of heaven are meant to confuse!  I really appreciate Robert sharing that song with us (“In Exile” by Thrice) because I think singing is one of the awesome ways we can build a longing for and focus on our real home.  And it reminded me of one of my very favorite songs growing up, which I’ve labeled “The Seven-Layered Song” because it is a compilation of different choruses talking about our deep longing to be with Jesus.  (I’ve included the tunes as links in case anyone wants to join me in singing it someday.)