LONG LOST UNCLE GEORGE

I want you to imagine something with me. Imagine you had a long lost relative named Uncle George. He was your mother’s cousin three times removed. (I don’t know if that makes him your uncle or not, but that’s not the point of this story). Your Uncle George had lost contact with your side of the family so growing up you didn’t even know you had an Uncle George. I keep using the past tense with Uncle George because many years ago he passed away and since he was a very wealthy man, with no family of his own, he left you $10,000,000 in a trust. But, since you don’t know about Uncle George, and subsequently your inheritance from him, how much use is that money to you? It’s absolutely of no value because you can only use it if you know about it.

It is the same way with our death with Christ. If you don’t know, or at the very least don’t understand, that the old me was crucified with Christ and now Christ lives in the new me, the power of this truth will be of no practical value to you. While it is true, it will not be employed in your everyday life because you simply don’t know or don’t understand. This is why in Romans 6:3-8 Paul writes asking, “Do you not know that when you were placed in Christ you were included in His death? It is because of this fact that you died with Christ that we can now live in and from Him.”

Paul is writing to inform us of the truth of our inheritance in Christ. Now let’s go back to our imaginary story for a moment and pretend that one day you receive a letter from the law firm of Peter, Paul, John and Associates where they inform you that you had an Uncle George and when he died he left to you an inheritance of ten million dollars. Upon reading this letter (and discovering that it is in fact not a scam) you would probably be overjoyed with your financial windfall as it could change your life. I say ‘could’ because knowing what is in fact yours is not enough.

Now, each and every day you have to make a choice, to remember that this money belongs to you and then spend it. Without making this choice, you will continue to live as if you didn’t have the money and your life wouldn’t be any different than before. For example, suppose the roof of your house has many leaks and requires to be fixed. With the knowledge of the inheritance you could call up a contractor knowing that you can afford the repairs. But if despite knowing about the money you don’t trust that it is yours, or that it is enough, how would you live? You would probably scatter the house with pots and pans attempting to catch the water while you go out and scrounge up enough money to one day pay for the fix. Simply put, you will live like a poor man, not the rich man you are.

It is similar to the truth of our death with Christ and why Paul in Romans 6:11 commands us to reckon, to remember, to count upon as a fact of history that we died to sin and we are now alive to God. The fact we died with Christ and He now lives in us is like having the ten million dollars in the bank. But if we don’t trust in and live out of that truth each day we will instead be using pots and pans trying to contain the problems in our life while we struggle and scrape by.

Thanks for reading. I trust you and Jesus will have a great day together spending His inheritance. For the inheritance we have received through the cross of Christ is far greater than anything Uncle George could ever leave us.

In Christ who is our Life,

Ross