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“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” ~ Ephesians 1:11-14

Last night, I had a really strange dream.

Now, given the fact that I’ve been taking NyQuil for several nights, in an attempt to beat the cold I’m fighting, that in and of itself isn’t that strange. However, that I managed to have a dream with a lesson in it, that seems a bit odd to me.

In the dream, I still lived in the house I do now. But the dream began in a completely different house, a huge, spacious mansion that I was visiting with a friend. I asked the friend if she wanted a tour. I showed her through the beautifully decorated rooms, the massive playroom filled with toys, and outside onto the sprawling deck the looked out over the Rockies.

So why was I showing someone around a house I didn’t live in? Well, apparently in the dream, the house was mine. I had inherited it, and all the furnishings. It even came with a bank account to cover taxes and insurance (yes, it was a very financially responsible dream). I told the visiting friend where I planned to put the furniture I currently owned, and how much I thought my little boy would love all the toys in the playroom. Yet, at the end of the visit, I went back to my much smaller house with the tiny yard. In spite of the fact that I had inherited the beautiful mansion years ago, I still didn’t live there.

My visiting friend couldn’t understand this.

“Why don’t you live in the mansion?” she asked.

Seems baffling, doesn’t it? Why in the world would I not claim what was mine? Yet, as we can see all around us, many people are not claiming what is theirs. Christ died for ALL of us, and many people walk right past the gift, the glory, the inheritance, because they think they don’t need it. They are perfectly content with the small, insignificant life they have. Even more tragic, they are exchanging the fleeting pleasures of earth for the majesty of eternal glory. And while they may not feel shortchanged now, they certainly will in the future.

Don’t ever forget, your inheritance in Christ is yours – all you need to do is accept it.