There is a hat that I wear sometimes when it’s sunny. Its green cloth is faded from many days in the sun. It’s not much to look at really, but it holds a certain sentimental value for me. It belonged to my grandfather. It’s a small piece of Him that I inherited when he passed. I remember him having many like it. I don’t know if it’s the same hat he wore on our many trips out in his sailboat or on our walks in the woods but that’s what it reminds me of. Its faded cloth speaks of summers in the sun gleaning from Him the knowledge and understanding he’d won over his lifetime. It’s strange how such a small thing can so powerfully remind me of who I am and where I’ve come from. I guess that’s what makes Inheritance beautiful.

Just like my hat, not all the value of our inheritance is tied directly to the value of the things we inherit. Much of the value of the things we inherit might not even be tangible. It is this intangible aspect of inheritance that is the most impactful. The people that have come before us radically shape our lives. In large part, we are who we are, because of the choices they made and we continue to live out the consequences of their decisions.

My Grandfather intentionally chose to make time for me and teach me about the things he found beautiful. Consequentially I’ve learned to appreciate nature and its beauty. However, not all things we inherit from our family are so clearly beautiful. Some things we inherit might be better described as “ugly”. If a father dies of cancer he leaves a hole in his child’s life and they are genetically more likely to contract cancer themselves. Like this, some things we inherit are not chosen for us by those who come before us, but sometimes they are. Ugly things like abuse and violence are all to often adopted as a means to an end and leave devastating results for generations. The Bible teaches that all these ugly things are symptoms of a human condition called sin and of the brokenness of this world resulting from it. It’s ugly and these things can leave scars, that like our genetics, are inherited from generation to generation.

So many people can feel like victims in the light of these uncontrollable influences. Some quite literally are victims, or the children of victims, and they carry the scars. What are we supposed to do with this uglyness? Humanity says that we are as we are because of a variety of forces outside of our control. This is true, after all our inheritance is given to us regardless of our desire for it. It’s only what we do with it that’s really up to us. As a result many reject the idea of brokenness and instead attempt to show themselves and others “grace” by renouncing the thought that being broken is bad. Instead we choose to say that “I am perfect just the way I am”. While I understand the mercy that this shows to those weary of self loathing but with no alternative to the self and its perceptions, it is a poor sedative for the pain caused by the ugly things we’ve inherited.

The biblical concept of sin once again confronts us with the fact that “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8 ESV). This concept of sin is not just that we have done wrong, but that we are steeped in it, and that this has fundamentally distorted our natures. It challenges us to admit we are not perfect, that no one is perfect, and that the “truth” is found as we confess this. We are broken and as broken people we cannot recognise the truth about our lives including our inheritances.

Those things we cling to so dearly may very well be simply a part of our brokenness rather than God’s intention for us. This idea of sin teaches that we need a perspective on our lives that can never come from within it. We need to allow God to speak to us from His perspective outside of our existence. The truth is we are broken and need to be taught the Truth by its author. When we admit this we are freed to be taught a different perspective about our lives. We are freed to be “loved as we are” in spite of our brokenness but not abandoned to the pain of it. We can and are being made new by the supernatural work of God culminated in Christ.

As we are freed from the tyrannical mould of sin we enable the truth to give us a new form. Its from this new found freedom that we find the strength to unburden ourselves of the Ugly things we have inherited. We no longer cling to them as fundamental apects of our identity. Instead we recognize that we are not the sum of them, at least we needn’t be. We inherit a new ideal. We desire to become the sum of the beautiful inheritances we’ve received both from our fore fathers and our Heavenly Father and to set aside all else. All of our experiences both beautiful and ugly certainly add texture to our form. They influnence our perspective and allow us to empathise with others. However, they are no longer essential aspects of our nature distorting it.

Our inheritance does shape us. It should! That it does so is good! One’s racial history, culture, and family have all deposited in us rich inheritances that make us who we are. I believe that this is God’s intention. But as all of God’s intentions for us are subject to the distortions of sin in this world it also means that not all the things we have inherited are right, good, or beautiful. Let us lean on the true “grace” of God in Christ. Let’s recognise our common humanity and our common need for God. As we trust in him and the things His words tell us are true and good we can awaken to the beautiful inheritances throwing off the encumberments of the ugly and leave for the generations that come after us a deeper and richer inheritance than we could ever have hoped for.

(A Prayer for our Lives)

Lord I come before you today as I am. I know you love me while I remain a sinner. You have made a way for me to be set free from the weight of Sin and to find healing from my blindness to my own need. I know that as I seek you in all things in my life you will call me to steward well the beautiful things I’ve inherited from you and from those that came before me. I also know that you will call me to humility and to see the things that I have stubbornly demand approval for laid on the alter of your consuming fire. I repent accepting your free gift of grace in Christ. I trust that as I do so and diminish that you will rebuild me and that all the beauty of your nature displayed in mine will transform not just my future but the future of all who come after me. May my culture, my people, my family, and myself be richer because of my courage and conviction to have all I do established in your Truth. In Jesus name Amen.

(A Prayer for Cyprus)

-Prayer for Correct Heart Posture-

Heavenly Father, May we as we pray for something we may know little of, weigh our words. Empower us by your Spirit to understand, in some small way, the cost that others must pay to see these prayers answered. May we humbly recognise the reality of the hurt and pain branded upon human hearts and lives and pray inviting you to pour out a special dispensation of grace on those who suffer. May they find healing for, and relief from, their suffering and assent to us the honour of lifting them up before you.

– Prayer –

Lord We come before you today lifting up the people of Cyprus and we thank you for the rich inheritance they have. We pray that you in your grace would open their eyes to see the beauty and to acknowledge with humility the ugly. Let your truth guide and shape their stewardship of their inheritances both material and caporal. May your Truth be found in them to strengthen them in the conviction that they are your beloved and heirs of untold riches. May this lead them to acts of great generosity in the forgiving of the unforgivable, embracing their ancestral enemies, and clearing away the rubble of hatred and bitterness. May the inheritances they leave to the generations to come be as wells of life dug with the conviction that while the inheritance we receive is not chosen the inheritance we leave is.