Called, Claimed, and Belonging

Deuteronomy 28:10 — Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will stand in awe of you.

God promised blessings to Israel if they would obey His commands and walk in His ways. One blessing would be that Israel would be established by God as His holy people. To be established means to be raised up to a higher place. God promised to elevate Israel to a position where all the other nations would stand in awe of her.

To be called by the name of the Lord means to be claimed. Israel would be called by the name of the Lord because God would claim ownership of them; Israel would be God’s people. By keeping God’s commands and walking in God’s ways, Israel would be so blessed that all the other nations would recognize Israel’s special relationship with God.

A Christian is a person who belongs to Christ and has a special relationship with Christ. A Christian is blessed as he or she obeys Christ’s commandments and walks in Christ’s way as a disciple. A Christian is a receiver of Christ’s love, grace, and truth for daily living. A Christian is one who has humbled him- or herself to acknowledge Christ as Lord and has been raised up as a born-again child of God to be seated with Christ in heavenly places.

Do people suspect that you are a Christian? I hope so. I hope the same for myself. I hope that people who observe my life will notice that I have Christ’s character and nature and suspect there is something different about me. It is a blessing to bear the name of Christ and be known as someone who belongs to Him.

Traditional wedding vows say, “For richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health.”  In all these conditions, may our special relationship with Christ be one of love, honor, and faithfulness to Jesus our Bridegroom who has taken us to be His own.

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