'Giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light.'--COL. i. 12 (R.V.)
It is interesting to notice how much the thought of inheritance seems to
have been filling the Apostle's mind during his writing of Ephesians and
Colossians. Its recurrence is one of the points of contact between them.
For example, in Ephesians, we read, 'In whom also were made a heritage'
(i. 11); 'An earnest of our inheritance' (i. 14); 'His inheritance in
the saints' (i. 18); 'Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ' (v. 5). We
notice too that in the address to the Elders of the Church at Ephesus,
we read of 'the inheritance among all them that are sanctified' (Acts
20-32).
In the text the climax of the Apostle's prayer is presented as
thankfulness, the perpetual recognition of the Divine hand in all that
befalls us, the perpetual confidence that all which befalls us is good,
and the perpetual gushing out towards Him of love and praise. The
highest diligence, the most strenuous fruit-bearing, and the most
submissive patience and longsuffering would be incomplete without the
consecration of a grateful heart, and the noblest beauty of a Christian
character would lack its rarest lustre. This crown of Christian
perfectness the Apostle regards as being called into action mainly by
the contemplation of that great act and continuous work of God's
Fatherly love by which he makes us fit for our portion of the
inheritance which the same love has prepared for us. That inheritance is
the great cause for Christian thankfulness; the more immediate cause is
His preparation of us for it. So we have three points here to consider;
the inheritance; God's Fatherly preparation of His children for it; the
continual temper of thankfulness which these should evoke.