Inheritance




From Robert McKethan:

I often think about my earthly inheritance…contemplating what I inherited from my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. I also contemplate my inheritance from Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve’s failure to obey God guaranteed that I (and the rest of mankind) received a sinful state. As I think about my circumstance, I fully realize that I am incapable of escaping the consequence of Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey God. Regardless of how ‘good’ I am, I am a sinner deserving eternal banishment from Heaven. Because of my inheritance, I am a sinner by omission and by commission. I sin by omission when I fail to follow expectations found in God’s Word...one of which is my failure to spend more time studying God’s Word. I am a sinner by commission since I do things that are contrary to God’s Word. Last week, I was very angry (in words and thought) when a motorist ran a red light as I was turning left at an intersection. You see, I am like the apostle Paul as he described himself in his letter to the Romans:

Romans: 5:12 - Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.

Romans 7:15 - I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.

Romans 7:19 - I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.

In the final analysis, I am a sinner by inheritance, omission and acts of commission. Thank goodness, I have a God who loves me!

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