Daily Devotional
The Lord Our Inheritance
The Lord gives inheritances, and the Lord also takes them away. In Joshua, tribes receive their portion, yet Levi stands apart, for as Irenaeus says, “They shall have no inheritance, for the Lord Himself is their inheritance.” This is no loss. It is a warning against clutching at what is not ours, like the nations in Jeremiah who seize, boast, and are made desolate under the cup of God’s fury. Lands, cities, strength, and name cannot save when the Judge rises.
Romans strips away another false claim: no man stands before God by privilege, ancestry, or speech. The Jew cannot boast over the Gentile; the Gentile cannot mock the Jew. “For God is true, but every man a liar.” Therefore every mouth is stopped. If any of us are justified, it is by God’s mercy through Jesus Christ, not by our own righteousness.
Yet the man justified by God does not become idle. Psalm 112 shows the shape of a righteous life: he fears the Lord, delights in His commandments, deals generously, and is not shaken by evil tidings. Clement gives the line plainly: “Dispersit, dedit pauperibus, justitia ejus manet in sæculum sæculi.” The one who trusts God loosens his grip on possessions. Since the Lord is his portion, he can give bread, money, and time. Since God is true, he must put away deceit. Since judgment comes upon grasping nations, he must not build his house on greed.
Let us therefore seek the inheritance that cannot be overthrown: to belong to God, to keep His commandments, and to abound in mercy while there is still time.
“They shall have no inheritance, for the Lord Himself is their inheritance. And again, “The priests the Levites shall have no part in the whole tribe of Levi, nor substance with Israel;”
— Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV
“Dispersit, dedit pauperibus, justitia ejus manet in sæculum sæculi.”
— Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies)
For Reflection & Discussion
What possession, claim, or advantage are you clutching as though it were your security, and what concrete act this week will show that the Lord—not that thing—is your inheritance?
Whom will you help today with alms, food, or practical labor, so that your righteousness is shown in giving to the poor rather than in words only?
What falsehood, boast, or unjust gain must you confess and put away at once, since God is true and every man a liar?
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