Sealed

“Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.” (Luke 15:22 ESV)

I have carried myself around as someone who had no divine ownership. I’ve acted like a peasant and not a family member of God, accepting scraps because I thought that was my worth, when all along God has placed a robe of grace and love over my shoulders that I was blind to until now.

The love of God is like the love that the prodigal son’s father had for him. This father allowed his son to make choices that he knew were harmful because his son had the free will to do so. It was not that the son didn’t know better, he just lacked the maturity to know that that he belonged to a father that loved him. This goes beyond wealth; this is a family’s name that the son wanted to take off for a season in order to identify with a world that was never for his good in the first place.

“Put a ring on his hand.” (Luke 22 ESV)

The ring placed on the son’s hand by his father when he returned home was no ordinary ring. This ring was a signet ring. Biblically, a signet ring was like a signature. This ring represented ownership, the family name, identity, power, and authority.

The prodigal son saw benefits in being wealthy, but not in being a son. God calls us sons and daughters. He has sealed us in Christ Jesus, poured out His Spirit on us, and sees us from afar. God opens His hands to us. He is saying, “Don’t drift away.”

Just as we cry out, asking God for His presence, He wants ours as well. How can we ask for a presence that many of us don’t stick around long enough to actually encounter?

Today, wear your signet ring, knowing that you belong to a family, to the One and True Living God who loved you so much that He gave His son for you, for us, that we can have ever lasting life.

What Jesus did sealed us. It gave us access to the signet ring and to grace.

“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” (Ephesians 1:13 ESV)

“No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.” (John 14:18 NLT)

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9 NKJV)

Lord, in Genesis 1:26, You said, “Let US make man in our image.” You created me after your image in love, intention, on purpose, and as creation that You call your own. Your places your ownership on me, making me apart of your family through Jesus, and You stamped me with approval. Lord, let me not lose sight of what is important. I pray to not be distracted and to not take the signet ring that you have given me off. I am loved lavishly, and I am sealed in You. In Jesus’ name, amen

Recommend reading:

1 John 3:1; John 3:16

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