Inheritance

Matthew 13:31-32
"He told them another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.'"

 If there is one distinction I have been learning about the difference between the world and the kingdom of my God, it is this: a kingdom-minded person will gladly build an inheritance. Their work is never their own, and they gladly push through obstacles so that their ceiling may become someone else's floor.

We read in Ecclesiastes 2 that the man living under the sun (i.e. apart from intimacy with God) gets ticked off when he realizes that all his work is going to someone else. "I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless." (Ecc. 2:18-19)

If we live with the sole purpose of fulfilling our own desires and dreams, it makes sense that we won't be happy when we realize someone else might benefit from - or even waste - all our efforts. However, if we start seeing our lives through God's eyes, we see an interesting paradigm. The entire point of our lives is to set the next generation up for an even greater revelation of God's glory and presence.

The thing about the seed planted in this parable is that the man who planted it would never see the final product. It would take years upon years for that seed to grow to the tree spoken of at the end of the story.  It may take three or four generations to see the full extent of fruit of your labor. Therefore, the question needs to be asked: Will you work for something you may never benefit from?

You know a man is kingdom-minded when he willingly and passionately builds an inheritance he will never see, for someone he will never know.