Marked as His

“I like your shirt,” the middle-aged lady told my son Joe, stopping him in the parking lot after our breakfast date. Joe was wearing a Redskins football jersey. I should explain here that all of us Colemans are loyal Washington Redskins fans. Every Sunday in the fall, our family room is filled with cheering, dedicated supporters wishing the ‘Skins on to victory. There hasn’t been a lot to cheer about in recent years. But we hang in there, because we love our team. Apparently, this lady shared our passion.

“I know there aren’t many of us in Anne Arundel County,” she commiserated with Joe. “But we won’t give up on them. This year is going to be our year.”

Joe gave her the thumbs up. “It sure is,” he agreed.

I had to smile. My boys have always been purists when it comes to team apparel. None of them would dream of wearing, for instance, a Ravens shirt. Now I understand why. By wearing a jersey, Joe identified himself with the Redskins, easily recognizable to anyone.

Scripture tells us we as believers have a mark on us as well. We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, who has come to live in us as a deposit on our future inheritance. While you and I may not be able to discern a mark, I believe it exists as an unmistakable indicator to the invisible spiritual world that exists around us. We are clearly marked as God’s to the forces in the heavenly realm.

Why do I think this? The spiritual beings are very aware of who belongs to God. They certainly recognized Jesus even as He existed in human form. For example, when He entered the region of Gerasenes, a demon-possessed man ran up to Him and shouted, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” In Acts, when counterfeit non-believing healers tried to use the name of Jesus to cast out demons, the demons responded, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” The healers didn’t have the mark. Thus they had no power. So the demons refused to obey them.

An even more compelling reason to believe we bear an identifying mark: in John’s vision of heaven, recorded in Revelation (14:1), the name of the Father is written on believers’ foreheads. In fact, the Anti-Christ will demand his followers to be marked as his (Revelation 13:16-18). He counterfeits many things in imitation of the true Messiah, and I believe he requires the mark because those who have believed in Christ are already marked accordingly.

Of course, we mere mortals cannot detect any mark. Yet Christians should be recognizable in other ways by those still living in spiritual darkness. Jesus told his disciples, “You are the light of the world…Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Paul wrote the Colossians: “Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other… beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” They will know we are Christians, not so much by our words, but by our actions. How we treat others, conduct ourselves with integrity, and operate in humility will all mark us as His. They will see Christ in us.

And that, my friends, is the purpose of good works. They cannot earn us God’s love or even approval. That has already been given to us as a free gift, never to be earned or deserved. Rather, our good works serve to bring recognition and glory to God. As Jesus told His disciples, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”