That's Mine!

Where would we be without Sharpies? The fact that my stapler remains on my desk has everything to do with the fact that I've written my name on it in five places with a burgundy colored Sharpie. Otherwise, it would most likely disappear along with everything else that gets "borrowed" and then forgotten by well meaning folks at church.

Other items with my name on them: all five of my sons have my last name, of course...my firstborn also shares with me my middle name...my wife, in a fit of irrationality, chose to take my name instead of the one she was born with (it is easier to spell)...my favorite books (I actually have an embossing stamp - a thoughtful gift from a friend)...my Taylor guitar. Well, my name isn't actually on the guitar, but my blood is.

So, all of these things with my name on them, I plan on keeping. Yes, even the children: especially them.

In the first century, slaves in the Roman Empire would receive new names from their masters. In the same way, as believers in eternity serve the Lord as His slaves forever, each will have the name of the Lord on his or her forehead (Revelation 22:4). In his commentary on Revelation, A. Plummer explains that " 'to write the name upon' anything is a common figurative expression in Hebrew to denote taking absolute possession of, and making completely one's own." That, my friends, is a fascinating and wonderful truth of Scripture; an insight into the authority of God's lordship over us.

I'm glad I've been renamed and I've been claimed, and that the Name that claimed me plans on keeping me.