Guard Your Inheritance

Guard Your Inheritance

By Pastor Jim May

What is the most valuable thing that you own in this world? I believe that you would agree with me I saying that the most valuable thing in your life is your salvation. This is our inheritance in the Lord and we should guard it at all costs.

Satan is ever trying to steal your soul. He desires to destroy you and cause you to lose your inheritance in Christ.

It has been said that the best things in life are free. What does it cost to love someone? Is it free? No, there is a price to be paid in true love. It is the price of lifelong commitment. A love that is true does not die; does not give up at the first sign of adversity; but stands strong against every wind that blows against it. God’s love is a part of your inheritance. Because God is Love, He enables us to love as well. Without God, love fades. Without God in the picture a marriage crumbles and falls apart because Satan destroys the love between a man and his wife through the cares and troubles of life.

What would you sell that love for? What price does the world have to offer before you will give your inheritance? On that same note; what price will you accept in exchange for your salvation? Is there anything that the world can offer that you desire more than the things of God? Rest assured, if you have a price for selling out, the enemy of your soul is willing to pay it.

In the 21st Chapter of the Book of I Kings we find that King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, rulers of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the land of Samaria, are involved in one of their most underhanded tricks. This whole story smacks of conspiracy to commit murder and steal what they cannot obtain legally, but as king they also know how to cover their tracks so that it all appears legal.

In this story I want you to think of how the devil works in your life to get what he wants. The lying and deceiving ways of Satan, and the temptations of the world that cause us to compromise our faith are all at work.

1 Kings 21:1, "And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria."

Naboth was just one man, but he was a Child of God, a man who was included in the covenant that God had made with Abraham. His property was small, and it was all that he had in this world, but it was also prime property. It was a very fruitful and beautiful vineyard. Though he might have been just an ordinary man, he was extraordinarily blessed by God.

You and I are pictured in this man Naboth. God has given you a “fruitful vineyard”. Who among us can say that God has not blessed us far beyond what we deserve? If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior this morning, you are living in a “fruitful vineyard”. Like Naboth you might not have a lot of wealth according to this world’s standards, but the peace, joy and love that fill your life is far more valuable than gold.

There are a lot of people around you that are watching your life with envy. How can you seem so at peace when the whole world seems to be on the very brink of destruction? How can you remain faithful to your spouse with all of the temptations that come at your from every direction? How can you keep from falling to pieces at every emergency that arises? Even though there are lots of people around you who have much more of this world’s wealth, and they live a lifestyle that you could only dream of, they don’t have what you have. Your little vineyard is so much prettier.

What a Christian has learned, and must learn, is that we must take on the same attitude as the Apostle Paul who said in Philippians 4:11, "…I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

Paul also wrote these words in 1 Timothy 6:6, "…godliness with contentment is great gain." Paul understood that the contented life is much more desirable than the wealth of the world. He knew that the more of this world’s goods that we have, the less contentment we will have. Nothing of this world ever truly satisfies, and no matter how much of it we gain, it will never be “enough” to fulfill the desires of the heart. There will always more to get, more to have and greener grass on the other side of the fence. Satan uses the things of this world like a carrot on a stick to lead men ever farther from God until there is no turning back.