Claim your inheritance
A friend of ours was left a large sum of money by a close relative. He was very happy about this, but before he could use the money he had to contact the executors of the estate and claim his entitlement to it. Then he was able to put his inheritance to good use.
People benefit from many different forms of inheritance. There are the welcome gifts of money, property, jewelry. Usually these are claimed very quickly! But there are other forms of inheritance that we may not even wish to lay claim to, or that we don't always realize exist. You've heard people say, ''She's so impulsive, that must be from her grandfather,'' or ''What a temper - just like her mother.'' It is of even greater concern when a disease is attributed to heredity.
The Bible teaches that man is the heir of God. Paul writes, ''The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.'' n1 As God's heir, man inherits wonderful spiritual qualities such as love, strength, peace, freedom, health, and abundance.
How can each one of us enjoy these in his present experience? We need to identify ourselves as entitled to such an inheritance; to claim man's identity as the offspring of God, entitled to every gift of his loving Father-Mother. We also need to deny the mistaken belief that our inheritance is from human parents. An understanding of our spiritual, God-bestowed inheritance can, when specifically applied through prayer, annul the curse of heredity - the curse that would label us as physical, mortal beings, the product of human progenitors , the outcome of genes rather than of the one perfect divine Spirit, God.
For example, a woman suffered from a skin disease diagnosed by the doctors as hereditary, and in her case incurable. At this point in her life she heard about Christian Science and began its study. She also asked a practitioner to pray for her. Christian Science practitioners devote their full time to praying for those who, facing such problems, request their help. In this case, as a result of prayer, the woman's thought began to change and became clearer and purer. As this change took place, her body ceased to show any sign of the disease. She was healed. She had witnessed a proof of her actual, God-bestowed inheritance of good. n2
n1 Romans 8:16, 17.
n2 A Century of Christian Science Healing (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1966), pp. 77-78.
The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes: ''What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love! More we cannot ask: more we do not want: more we cannot have. This sweet assurance is the 'Peace, be still' to all human fears, to suffering of every sort.'' n3
n3 Miscellaneous Writings p. 307.
We shouldn't fear that God's gifts to one of His children can deprive another of coming into his full and complete inheritance of joy and fulfillment. A Bible verse from a parable related by Christ Jesus holds true for each one of us today: ''Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.'' n4 All that God has is ours. As we joyfully acknowledge this, claim it, and identify ourselves as His beloved children, we'll find our specific needs cared for. We'll help bring to light, and prove, man's actual origin and inheritance as the manifestation of God's infinite goodness.
n4 Luke 15:31.
DAILY BIBLE VERSE Behold, What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. I John 3:1
