Inherited Wealth That Lacks Nothing (Pt. 12)

My Confusion

Something that confuses me about our current culture is the negative connotation we have with inherited wealth. I have even been guilty of this bias myself when referring to the British royal family. My argument was always, ‘Why should I give them any of my attention? All they did is be born.’ I still don’t see them as deserving much of my attention, but I have come to see the bias beneath my argument. The bias I had was the belief that they did nothing to earn what they have, but are simply the product of inherited privilege and thus are of no value. Our culture is a works-based culture that loves an underdog story, but will cut them down if they rise too high. I am confused by famous actor’s children in Hollywood changing their names so that they can make a name for themselves, second and third generation politicians and heirs downplaying their parents and grandparents to find comradery, and the children of wealthy people shaming the wealthy. I am confused by mobs of people who can afford to protest for months destroying business districts only to find out that many of them are quite well off. The people perpetuating this line of thinking despise the wealthy and the idea of heirs inheriting anything worth having. 

Righteous Desire

I started to abandon this line of thinking when I began to have kids. Something shifted within me as the number of people I loved more than myself began to increase. My focus turned from working hard for my own account to pouring the best of me into my family. My motivation in business changed from building something for me to enjoy to building my business so I can leave an inheritance for my children's children. I look at all the ways I had to struggle and my desire is for my children to stand on my shoulders as I muscle through the mud and go to even higher heights. I am prepared to communicate my mistakes to them when they reach an appropriate age so that they don’t repeat them. I’ve gone from shaking my head at people who have inherited wealth to working hard so that my children and their children can inherit from me. I am now confused at the thought of someone wanting to start at the bottom just to find favor with people who will turn on them at the drop of a hat.

Love

In my dream future, I hope to have a number of businesses that help fund Not-for-Profit organizations around the world and provide jobs and steady income well after I am gone. I want my kids to learn my work ethic and take everything their mother and I build to the next level and make it theirs. I want them to emulate all of the best of what we’ve done, avoid all our mistakes, and grow to be better. I hope to have all the resources available for them to excel in whatever capacity God leads them. Whatever is ours is theirs because they are our legacy. My dream is for them to take ownership of everything we accomplish in this life for them. Our motivation is love. I want our kids to fully benefit from this life that we give for them. My wife homeschools each kid one-on-one, intimately molding their knowledge and royal character while I give support and shalom to the home by loving her and them. To love us back they just need to honor our love for them by taking all we have to give and allowing God to take them higher. It would break our hearts if the ones we gave our lives for are ashamed of our life's work. My hope is that my kids will realize the love of their father and mother in laying down our lives for them and to not lower themselves to the fickle opinions of others. What I want to leave for them is a form of grace. 

Grace

Grace is an unmerited favor, a gift we couldn’t deserve less, which is passed down to us through no effort of our own, an inheritance we receive simply by being children of God. My dream for my children does not require them to work to attain anything I earned. It is the result of a father’s love, and the only proper repayment is to accept it and be thankful. God’s grace is so much more than this. Though we do not deserve what was given so that we can have life in abundance, because of this grace we also have authority and power. Jesus had to come as a fleshy man because it was mankind that God blessed and gave dominion over the earth. It is only through mankind that the blessing can be realized in order to operate with the authority God gave. Before ascending to Heaven, Jesus declared He now has all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus also extends that authority back to us as we abide in Him and He in us. Because of the sacrifice Jesus made with His life, we are able to benefit from all that is God. All we have to do is accept the love of the Father in meekness and the earth is ours. To be meek is to rely on God’s grace to be our strength, guide, and help instead of on our own earthly strength and wisdom. When trials and hard times come our way, the finished work of Christ is our eternal stamp of approval. The world will always try to make us feel like we didn’t do enough, we don’t deserve what we have, that we need to go make a name for ourselves, but none of that is true.

If we believe the lies of the world that the life Christ gave is not enough, we will find ourselves working to earn what we already have. If we allow pride to control our hearts, we will find ourselves refusing to stand in the name our Father gave us and try to make one for ourselves. The world would have us believe there is greater value finding out for ourselves which path is good and which is bad instead of standing on the truth of our Father who loves us and has our best interest in mind. All of these lies are designed to keep us from the grace that is already ours. This grace empowers us to be able to do all that God commands, which is to love, so of course our enemy wants to keep us on the wild goose chase of being self-made people. As children and heirs we are invited to come to the throne of grace with confidence. We can have the same confidence before the throne of God as a child asking for a cup of water from his dad because of the love that was demonstrated when Jesus willingly went to the cross and the promises that affirmed when God raised Him from the grave. At the throne, mercy is in abundance and the grace needed for every obstacle can be found. Grace is our inheritance and it is the Father's good will that we take advantage of it and do the greater works that God has planned for us to do. 

Faith

 For it is by grace that we are saved from falling victim to lies, but grace can only be realized through faith. The act of accepting and relying on the grace of God is faith. Faith is declaring Christ sacrifice is enough and claiming our identity as heirs. Faith is proudly bearing the name of Jesus because there is no higher name. Faith is believing God's truth with all our heart and faith is demonstrated by our actions matching that truth. Faith is the logical reaction to the grace of God becoming one's truth. Faith is the act of choosing God's truth over the world. It is through faith that grace is realized because it is the act of accepting our inheritance. Faith is the only visible substance the outside world sees that reflects what is true on the inside. Our faith is our witness to the world, which is why without faith it is impossible to please God. 

Blessed are the Meek

The peacemaker's strength and power to do all that God calls flows from this grace. It has already been provided as an inheritance to all who believe. Christ is our inheritance and He is full of grace and truth. It takes an act of faith to surrender our will to God, to rely on the finished work of Christ and not our own works, to pray for our enemies and love the people who try to hurt us. Pride says they are disrespecting your name, but grace says nothing can separate you from the love of God who gives you a new name. If you say, 'I lack faith' that means you haven't humbly embraced grace. If you cannot find grace that means you don't fully understand the Father’s love. The greatest love is to lay down one's life and the peacemaker is called to love the world like Christ did. This can only be done by grace through faith and not of ourselves, it is a gift of God and not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) The apostle Paul time and again explains the source of his strength in his quest as a peacemaker:

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

It was in what Paul calls his weakness that grace empowered him to model Christ. By weakness Paul is speaking of a silent confidence to rely on the finished work of Christ as the source of power over his own abilities or accomplishments. The willingness to be seen as weak by the world's standards and to trust in the grace that is available takes a great strength that we call meekness. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. The peacemaker’s strength is found in simply walking in their inheritance.

Full Circle

If we think about it, this was always God's will. He created the world and everything in it and then made mankind to benefit and take ownership of it. The Father made us in His image, male and female He created us. It pleased Him for us to share in His glory and He called it good. And now through Christ Jesus, "it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven." (Colossians 1:19-20) Through Jesus' sacrifice, He made our inheritance available to us once again in Him. He is our inheritance and he is everything we need; for He is love, peace, the way to the Father,  truth, life, the good shepherd, the gate, and full of grace. Jesus is…