SCRIPTURE: 2 Timothy 2:8
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firmly in your mind: Jesus, descended from the line of David, raised from the
dead. It's what you've heard from me all along.
STORY:
“Two verbs have built two empires,” wrote Augustine, “the
verb ‘to have’ and the verb ‘to be.’ The first is an empire of things –
material possessions and power. The second is an empire of the spirit – things
that last.
OBSERVATION:
Have you ever thought of your spiritual inheritance? The
Bible speaks often of that which gets passed down from one person to the next
as testified by the long lists of begets. There is a lineage from one
generation to the next and with that comes their spirit as well. Jesus was a
descendant from David and that line is traced all the way back to Abraham.
Today we can speak of 6-degrees of separation. Name anyone
famous and not-so-famous and by linking everyone they know to everyone you know
and you are forever linked. That in some way is an inheritance. The United
Methodist bishop who ordained me linked his line of ordination all the way back
to John Wesley, a rich spiritual inheritance.
But a spiritual inheritance is lasting, it is about strong
part of the verb ‘to be.’ It is stronger because it links us to the divine.
What causes me pause today is the very thought of what I am passing on to all
those I come in contact with during the course of a normal day or on Sunday or
during Bible study or just in the grocery store. Something is being passed on.
Is it spiritual? Is it something that is going to last? Is it a part of the
endless line of splendor to the time of John Wesley, St. Paul, Jesus, David,
Abraham and beyond? What am I begetting in others?
PRAYER:
Lord, make in possible to leave a long line of spiritual
children as our descendants of the faith.
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