"I don't deserve an inheritance—I was never the faithful son they wanted."
How it sounds in your head: I wasn't the church-going, rule-following, respectable son. I made mistakes, lived differently, disappointed them. Inheritances go to faithful children, not failures like me. I don't deserve what good sons get.
"In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will."
-- Ephesians 1:11Religion twisting grace into performance-based inheritance, making sonship depend on behavior rather than blood.
He can recount every family gathering where he felt like the outsider, every disappointed look, every comparison to siblings who 'did it right.' A lifetime of feeling like the black sheep makes unworthiness feel like truth.
Most evil king in Judah's history—practiced witchcraft, sacrificed his own sons, filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, led the nation into abomination worse than pagan nations. At the end of his life he repented, and God INSTANTLY restored him to his kingdom—complete restoration despite decades of the worst evil imaginable.
I REFUSE the lie that inheritance depends on performance! IT IS WRITTEN that I have OBTAINED an inheritance in Christ—past tense, already done, predestined by HIS purpose, not my faithfulness. The thief on the cross got paradise with ZERO faithful years. Manasseh sacrificed his own children and still got restored. The BARAK blessing protected Judah who slept with his daughter-in-law, Jacob who deceived his father, Abraham who lied to kings. IT IS WRITTEN: there is NO CONDEMNATION for those in Christ. I am a son by BLOOD—Christ's blood—and sons get the inheritance!
Your Father isn't waiting for you to become faithful enough—He ran toward the prodigal while he was STILL covered in pig filth. The ring was on his finger before the confession left his lips, because sonship isn't performance-based; it's presence-based, and you're IN CHRIST.