We love to be invited to parties or celebrations, don’t we? We go with expectation and joy! But how fully are we as Christians responding to the life-changing invitation Christ Jesus extends to all his followers in every age, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34)?
What is the inheritance the Master promises us? Isn’t it our rightful place in God’s kingdom as His cherished sons and daughters—a place that has been prepared for each one of us? The revelation of the Science of Christianity in this age helps us to accept fully Christ’s invitation through our own study of the Bible and Science and Health. Christian Scientists are deeply grateful to Mary Baker Eddy for her diligent search of the Scriptures, which enabled her to unlock its universal truths and God’s eternal messages, together with the inspiration needed to make practical their reality. Indeed the first tenet of Christian Science reads: “As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life” (Science and Health, p. 497).
The Bible illustrates how God prepares the way for His people to claim their full inheritance in His kingdom. For instance, Genesis includes the account of God calling Abram (later called Abraham) out of his father’s house and showing him in spiritual terms a dwelling place where
new hopes, purposes, and ideals find fuller expression. Imagine a kingdom with no borders, no crossing points, where each citizen has an inalienable right to access all the good that a loving Father bestows! Citizenship in God’s kingdom enables each of us to use spiritual, God-bestowed talents that fulfil our deepest aspirations. This is the inheritance God sets before Abram (see Genesis 12:1; Gen. 13:14–18). He invites Abram to lift his eyes and look “northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward.” All that he sees, God will give to him and his heirs forever. Quite a promise!
