Heirs by Grace

Sunny Choi(Mosaic Community Fellowship)

In the Greater Toronto Area, housing prices have risen much faster than average incomes for decades. Even with some recent declines, buying a home remains difficult for many, making family support more important than ever. Family support goes beyond help with housing. It can provide education, stability, opportunities, and financial security that would otherwise be out of reach for someone relying entirely on their own means. The importance of inheritance and family support is not unique to modern society. In ancient Jewish culture, inheritance laws were designed to preserve family land and continue the family line. Against this background, the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 4:4–7 that through Jesus Christ, believers have been redeemed from slavery and adopted as God’s children and heirs:

“God sent [his Son] to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.  And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”  Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.”

Humanity lives in a kind of slavery of our own making — trapped by fear, sin, and the constant need to prove ourselves. But through Jesus, people are invited into a new relationship with God, not as servants trying to earn acceptance, but as beloved sons and daughters.

Jesus illustrates this in the parable of the lost son in Luke 15:11-32. After wasting his inheritance, the younger son returns home expecting to become a servant. Instead, his father welcomes him back with love and restores him fully as his son.  Although the older son stayed home and obeyed, he still related to his father more like a servant working for approval than a son secure in his father’s love.  Both sons, in different ways, misunderstand what it means to belong to the father.

In a world shaped by inequality, anxiety, and striving, God offers a different kind of belonging and inheritance — one not earned by wealth, status, or performance, but freely given through grace in Jesus Christ.  And the presence of the Holy Spirit with us is the living confirmation of this wonderful news.