Just the title is filled with a wow-factor that gives me goosebumps. Saints, did you know, that you have a BIRTHRIGHT? Yes, and what a right that just for having been born has been given to you. The right to the priesthood, the kingship and the double portion of the land. What does that mean, well, in a nutshell. Because of your divine birth, because you have the wonderful life of God in your spirit, you have the divine right to enter into the very presence of God bearing man on your heart to present him as a living sacrifice for God’s enjoyment. You have the right to bring the divine authority of God to mankind. You have the right to a double portion of a vast land filled with waterbrooks, hills, valleys, copper, iron, pomegranates, figs, olive trees, milk, honey… and I could go on just telling you about this wonderful land that you have at your disposal to explore at will, but the half cannot be fancied, so to try to describe it to you would be pointless, it is meant to be experienced!
This week in the Poland camp we learned about the significance of our birthright, and we saw the preciousness of it, and experienced a wonderful foretaste of the enjoyment of our birthright. The thing is, it is not too difficult to enjoy our brithright surrounded by nothing other than beautiful mountains, flowing rivers, majestic trees, and galloping white clouds sweeping across the blue skies… Yes, it is true that during this time it also rained a lot, but really how can you not enjoy the Lord surrounded by the saints sunshiney smiling faces? Try it, I dare you, it’s impossible.
But, you know, maybe in the past, or maybe in the future, something happened, or may happen. A situation. A circumstance. An offense. Who knows. Maybe for no other reason than just oldness, we become like Elimelech, who because of a famine in the land of his possession left and went down to the land of Moab. Now the Moabites were a people who came from the incestuous union of Lot and his daughter, they were a people who were not allowed to enter into the congregation of the Lord for ten generations! It was among such a people that Elimelech, his wife and his two sons made their home. Here, the two sons married Moabite women. These women didn’t have the birthright: they had no right to possess and enjoy the good land, and no right to be priests or kings among God’s people. Well, through God’s soverign dealings, Elimelech and his two sons died. Naomi, his widow, bereft of family, told her daughter-in-laws to run along and marry men of their own people and “live and prosper.” Ruth, however had no desire to return to her past. Ruth had a heart that was turned to God and to God’s people. And this point in particular was what really touched my heart.
Although, as a Moabitess, Ruth was not allowed to enter the congregation of the Lord, she was seeking God and God’s people revealing a most prevailing principle: no matter who we are or what our background is, as long as we have a heart which seeks after God and God’s people, we are in a position to be accepted into the birthright of Christ.
Saints, it is never too late. No matter what our past is, no matter what our present condition, no matter the past or condition of any person we know, of any saint that we know who has traveled down to the land of the Moabites, as long as there is a heart turned toward God and toward His people, there is HOPE! Our birthright can be restored!
I was encouraged that, for the sake of those around us, we need to be like Boaz: those with a broad, magnanimous heart, so willing to sacrifice our own enjoyment to redeem others’ enjoyment of the their God-allotted portion. When we care for those around us, together we become those who bring forth Christ. This of course ushers in the year of Jubilee. The year when we all enjoy the full taste of our inheritance! Saints, let us all continue to pursue and enjoy our marvelous inheritance, together! [guest post: sharing from her enjoyment in the 2010 Poland camp by Maria C.]
