The Glory of Belonging

Edward F. Lundwall, Jr.

"His!" Written in the Book of Life!

Thankful thoughts flooded her mind and heart, as the preacher pronounced them man and wife. She had waited long to find this husband of her dreams. As a truly spiritual young woman, she had meditated upon Ephesians 5:22–32, hoping for a Christ-like man, a man who she could trust herself to as the Church should trust itself to Christ, someone with a Christ-like character and deep rooted walk with God (Rom. 8:28, 29) whose lead she could follow. She considered such a husband a treasure since he would not be addicted to drugs, immoral, irresponsible, humanistic, stuck on himself, nor biblically illiterate. She would value him for his dedication and life practice to his personal Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. As they walked out of the church, she felt joyful anticipation of fulfillment and fruitful Christian service with a lifelong companion. She affirmed, “Yes, he is mine, and I am his.”

Christian marriage gets its value from the spiritual realities it should and can reflect. The Apostle Paul uses Christian marriage as a symbol of the Church’s relationship to Christ. Similarly, stopping to meditate on the spiritual glory of being Christ’s Bride strengthen one’s spiritual life revealing the many meanings of being "HIS"!

As the bride takes on her husband’s name, so does the believer when one becomes a part of being Christ’s Bride. What does Jesus name mean? Matthew 1:21 tells us that God the Father ordained what His only begotten Son’s name was to be. He said to Joseph, Jesus’ foster father, "…thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." This is crucial thing to be "His!" One must truly be a “Christian,“ one that belongs to Christ” or literally, a “Christ-one.” However, being saved from the penalty of one’s sins through faith only begins the glory of being "His."

Superseding even the ability of doing miracles in Jesus’ name, a believer’s name is written in Heaven as being "His!" I will never forget the joy of faith when I claimed Christ’s promise in Matthew 10:32: "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." On that day, God wrote that I as “His!”

In the place where my sins had been recorded as being a part of Adam’s fallen and condemned race, Jesus erases that with His blood and gives me glorious righteous righteousness that is "His!" (2 Cor. 5:21) Then by faith the blood bought believer can look around God’s treasure city and see the door promise to its treasures as being united with Christ by faith reckoning (Rom. 6:11) that one has all the blessings God has to offer (Eph. 1:3). For all God’s treasures find their place in Christ and become ours as we appropriate them because we are "His!" In this life, these blessing largely belong to us in the realms of faith and spirit.

Before the born again one enters into this eternal blessedness through death’s awful door, being "His" brings peace to our hearts as we are engaged in the spiritual warfare going on in this world. Whether a spiritual child, or as a seasoned soldier of Christ, the Christian will experience attack from Satan and his forces in multitudinous ways (Eph. 6:12). In the midst of this warfare, the Lord provides spiritual weapons so that we might not be victims of the onslaught; they are provided because we are "His!" Christians only fail when they don’t use God’s Word to cast "…down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). In the lives of those that love Him and have answered His call to serve Him, the Lord even uses those failures for their spiritual good (Rom. 8:28, 29). So it is that through both our successes and failures, the Lord demonstrates His wisdom, love, and provision (Eph. 3:10) for "His!"

Who can obtain blessed with blessed identity and relationship? In John 10:27, 28, Jesus says: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." The prophet Malachi of old spoke of this treasure of being God's people, when he said: "Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not." With this kind of faith and treasured relationship, the true believer can look forward to an abundant and fulfilled life. It is all possible, because they are "His!" If you are not "His,” you can be. Seek Him with all your heart until you find Him (Jer. 29:14).