I remember my grandma – Nana, as I loved to call her – talking to my mom about the importance of leaving an inheritance to her children and grandchildren one late evening when I was in high school.

As a teenager, I remember thinking how silly that sounded. Why should she leave money behind for us to enjoy when she could enjoy the money now? I know she had dreams of traveling the world and building that addition on her home, like she had always talked about. And we were not a family of means, though my grandpa worked hard all of his life in the automobile factories where my family lives in Indiana. We knew the sacrifice it cost her to put money away in the bank each month. But my Nana was a generous woman. She loved to give and bless those in her family. It brought her joy to be able to help provide for her loved ones.

And so as she would talk about this inheritance that we would have one day, we would smile, kiss her on her forehead and thank her for her giving heart… never wanting or expecting a penny.

As the years went by my sweet grandpa passed away, and a few years later my Nana eventually went into an assisted living facility. Ohhh we tried to talk her into moving to Texas and living with us, but not that Indiana born and raised woman. Though she loved her family in Texas, she couldn’t bear the thought of not being in the same area she had lived her whole life. We learned that you can take Nana out of Indiana but you can’t take Indiana out of Nana. Indiana was in her blood and in her heart. She just couldn’t grow roots out here in Texas, so she went back to Indiana to live near our family there.

Yet make no mistake, every time we would go to visit her she would remind us of the inheritance she had sacrificed for us; the inheritance that was waiting for us. And visit after visit we would smile, kiss her on her forehead and thank her.


As the years went on, her sweet sacrificial inheritance dwindled down as the cost of the home increased. Eventually the inheritance she had spent years investing into was gone….and she was heartbroken. My Nana cried when she told us. All those years of saving, sacrificing: gone in her eyes, but not in ours. Like always, we would smile, lean down and kiss her on the forehead, and this time told her that she had already given us the best inheritance a Nana could give…loving memories of a woman who loved her family with every part of her heart.

My sweet Nana is now in heaven, and she is experiencing the reality of the amazing inheritance Peter talks about in Chapter One. An inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. An unlimited bank account that can never be emptied by too many withdraws.


This is the reality for those who are found in Christ. Here Peter writes a letter of hope to a people, then and now, who are suffering, hurting… who are needing to be reminded that there is this amazing inheritance waiting for them when they get to heaven. An inheritance beyond anything they can ever imagine. A place with no more pain, sadness or heartbreak. A place were we are finally complete, whole… and without sin.

The place our hearts and minds have been aching for since we drew our first breath. Home. Our real home. 


As we dive into 1 Peter this week, let me end with this encouragement…

Like Peter states at the very beginning of Chapter One, we are strangers in the world.
This is not our home. So let’s start living with this truth in mind.

Let’s stop trying to make heaven here on earth.

Let’s stop trying to “save” for the future, and instead pour our lives into NOW.

Jesus is coming back you all, and with the passing of each day His arrival is getting closer and closer. Let’s spend our days wisely, investing in what will last for eternity…

Let’s Talk:
How does focusing on the fact that those who are saved have an amazing inheritance waiting for them in heaven change your outlook of life?

 

Love God Greatly!

Angela- Love God Greatly

 

 

 

 

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Angela Perritt

Angela Perritt

Angela Perritt is the founder and director of LoveGodGreatly.com, a nonprofit online Bible study ministry reaching thousands of women in over two hundred countries around the world with God’s Word through their translated Bible studies. She and her husband live in Dallas, Texas with their three daughters. Angela is passionate about God’s Word and believes one woman in God’s Word can change a family, community and ultimately a nation. Her greatest joy is to encourage her children and others to love God greatly with their lives one day at a time. You can connect with her on Instagram.

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