Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

by Rankin Wilbourne

Imagine you inherited a bank account with $100 million in it, bequeathed to you by someone who loved you dearly. You are aware of this treasure. You have been given a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance (Eph. 1:14). You receive weekly statements reminding you of your substantial balance (that is, you go to church). But suppose you have never drawn down on this fortune. You remain in dire poverty, living paycheck to paycheck. From one point of view, you are exceedingly wealthy, but insofar as how you live, you remain poor. You know you are wealthy beyond imagining, but you don’t really know your wealth. If your reluctance to draw on your inheritance were born of a true modesty, it might be commendable. But perhaps it stems from a refusal to accept such a lavish gift: “Oh no, I don’t deserve anything like that. That would be too much. I’ll just keep the life I have.” Or maybe it stems from fear or an unwillingness to risk, or even begin to imagine how, and how much, your life can change. “I’ll just remain as I am, thank you.” Does this not describe how so many of us are living? It’s like living in a trailer while millions of dollars worth of oil course underneath the land you own. Untapped. All this time untold riches have been right under our noses, but most of us keep on living the life we know. Even if we aren’t particularly happy with it, at least it’s familiar. We modestly decline rather than embrace a risk-filled, unknown future.