Day 32: You’re a Legal Heir

Authority means nothing unless we use it.

The writer of Hebrews tells us, ‘For by one offering [Jesus] has perfected forever those who are being sanctified’ (Hebrews 10:14).

What Jesus has done is perfect—but our appropriation of it is progressive. Legally, we inherited everything when we were born again. We became a child of God, an heir of God and a co-heir with Jesus Christ. The entire inheritance is legally ours, but experientially, we do not yet possess it all.

If you and I are honest with ourselves, we will recognize that none of us has yet appropriated all that Jesus has done for us on the cross. We are being sanctified. There is a process going on in us, the result of which is that all Jesus has done on the cross is being worked into our lives.

John 1:12 says this about the new birth: ‘As many as received Him [Jesus], to them He gave the right [Greek, ‘authority’] to become children of God.’ In the new birth, we received authority to ‘become.’ The process by which we ‘become’ is described in Hebrews 10:14 as ‘being sanctified.’ However, authority means nothing unless we use it.

How much have we become, and how much do we have yet to become? Remember, by one sacrifice, Jesus has made total and perfect provision for every need of every human being. His is the all-sufficient sacrifice.

Would you like to acknowledge this amazing sacrifice for yourself? Let’s do so together with the following