Belonging
by Richard Griffiths
The wonderful Aaronic blessing is followed by a promise. And what a promise! If any of God’s people come into His presence and receive His blessing, He does something on top of blessing them. He ‘puts His name on them’.
Our dogs were well-trained but, once in a while they’d go off after some irresistible smell and get lost. But they had tags on their collars with our name and contact details, so that anyone finding them could phone us and they’d soon be back home. You knew to whom our dogs belonged. We’d ‘put our name’ on them. Even though they had their nametags on their collars, as long as they were lost, they were rather afraid and very vulnerable. It was only when they were back with us that they were, and felt, safe.
God putting His name on His people is a declaration of ownership. We might bear the name of God, but we need to be in relationship with Him for it to be of any value to us. The dogs’ nametags, in themselves, meant nothing to them. They were only safe when they were back with us.
Stop and think about these words for a moment. What do they say about being ‘God’s possession’?
You were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:13-15).
In days gone by, people often had signet rings, with their own unique design. If they wanted to keep something precious safe, they would seal it with wax and impress the still warm wax with the unique mark of the signet ring. The Holy Spirit is our God-given seal of possession. But we aren’t owned as, in ancient times, a man might own a slave: ‘The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father’’’ (Romans 8:15).
Being owned by God means living in the security of His infinite love.
The Aaronic blessing began with ‘The Lord bless you’. It ends with ‘I will bless them’. When we enter into, and live in, relationship with God as Father and Lord, we will be blessed. Yes, there are ups and downs. But He will keep us safe until the day comes when ‘They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads’ (Revelation 22:4).
Richard Griffiths When Richard retired from full-time Anglican ministry in Chichester in 2009, he and his wife, Sue, moved to Northumberland. He joined the ministry team at Ellel Grange in 2011, where he and Sue regularly ministered at healing retreats. They are now helping on the "Explore" team. They greatly enjoy walking in the beautiful Northumberland countryside and along the coast. Richard loves seeing God bringing people into a strong personal relationship with Him as their Father and the healing that comes with it.
Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.
