Nougat 17

Hello dear

I remember as if I were there now. My first secondary school English teacher, was known for telling us; “1A1; you must know the concept of words.” Ironically, despite being an avid reader at that time, I didn’t know what a ‘concept’ was. Under her guidance, I used context clues to grasp the concept of concept and many other words. Sometimes it led me astray; but the principle was liberally applied when reading the Bible. I pray that today’s Holy Nougat is clear to you in every way, when we use my teacher’s premise for grasping the concept of words.

“An incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance has been reserved in heaven for you.” 1 Peter‬ ‭1:4‬ ‭TLV‬‬

So using my teacher’s philosophy; we should read the text several times. Having read through, we grasp the ‘gist’ of what it is about. And we know that there’s an inheritance awaiting us in Heaven. Of course, someone usually dies for us to ‘inherit’; (and the inheritance is a gift that we have not necessarily earned) so we may be curious about Who died and What we have inherited. Well, the Who is not defined; but the Where defines the ‘Who’. With the inheritance being in Heaven; and our knowledge of one person going to prepare our inheritance; we quickly surmise that we are thinking about what Jesus has left for us.

The What however might have sent us scurrying for our dictionaries; or taking it for granted. Although we don’t know exactly what the What is; we know it is ‘incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading’. So can we accurately define these terms, or do we use one or another of them to get the gist?(I beg your forgiveness if I seem to be disrespectful of your literary gifts and skills.)

As all the words are presented in the negative, we first remove the prefix and mentally replace it with ‘Not’. Thus, the inheritance is Not corruptible; Not defiled; and Not fading. Already it has become much more manageable. Let’s take each word by itself and reconstruct the promise we have about our inheritance.

For most Caribbean readers; ‘corruption’ is almost a staple in our vocabulary. Further we (may) know that -iIble’ suffixes suggest that something CAN happen (that right there is the application of a concept); so corrupt-ible would suggest “able to be corrupted”. With us working with negations we find that our heavenly inheritance is NOT able to be corrupted. It will neither spoil; nor can anyone bribe their way.

To defile is to make dirty (concept) or damage the purity of ((online dictionary definition). With that; we realize that our inheritance is still in tact; remains in its ‘pure’ or natural state; as it is ‘UN-defiled’. We may assume that it has not been touched by humans or demons. Ironically, we have defined the word, but find ourselves trying to use the context clues to grasp the concept of how it could apply to our inheritance.

And our inheritance is unfading; it will NOT fade. In the Jamaican barbershop , fades were once very popular. (They probably still are) A Fade haircut started with the bulk of one’s hair, then a little less and less along the side of one’s head; until the base had no hair. One surmises that fading refers to a gradual removal of light over time. Our online source confirms this and further adds; ‘losing brightness, vitality or strength‘. With that we realize that the inheritance promised us in Heaven will NEVER lose its luster, brightness or strength.

After the wonderful English lesson; we find that Peter is assuring/reminding us that in Heaven there is a gift that we didn’t necessarily earn; that CANNOT be tainted; does NOT spoil; has NOT lost its purity; and will NOT EVER lose its luster or its brightness or its strength. Now that’s an inheritance I plan to collect on.

On a final note; I hasten to remind us that our heavenly inheritance is prepared for each of us individually. So we are free to share the news with others. That being said; can we think of others who would benefit from such good news today? If yes, what are we waiting for – time to share with them what we understand about the inheritance stored for them too. No better time than now.

In Christ’s love and grace . . .