Wearing the Mark

Last night as my wife and I were driving home from our oldest son’s home in Fairfield, California, about an hour’s drive from our residence, I looked out across the dark outlines of the Napa Sonoma Marsh that surrounds the highway along the northern edge of San Pablo Bay and in the stillness of the evening began to think about what it means to be “God’s people.” (Psalm 100:3 KJV)

Recently I was flipping through the channels and looked briefly at a talk show where they were discussing relationships and commitment and mentioned something about the idea of “marking” the one you are committed to.  Now, I admit that I did not stay on the channel long enough to really see what they were talking about, but I instantly thought about one of the reasons that I had proposed to my wife a few years before I knew that we could get married.  I am sure that I have told this story before, but a brief synopsis is that we were about to go off to college and I wanted any other potential suitors to see the ring on her finger and know that she was already spoken for.  I guess you could say that I was “marking” her with my love and commitment as well as declaring “hands off” to anyone else!

Psalm 100:3 declares that “we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” (KJV)  I looked up how sheep are “marked” in order to identify who they belong to and read on the Sheep101 website that ear tags are the most common technique that is used.  Last night as I drove in the quiet night I thought about how we are “marked” or identified as one of God’s people.  Should we wear ear tags?  Is it by our Christian T-shirts, or Christian bumper stickers.  Many today wear tattoos that permanently declare their devotion to our Savior.  What do you think?

I recalled earlier in the day yesterday, when I was reading to my wife from the book “The Life of Christ” by Mrs. C. Nuzum.  The author, who was an evangelist and missionary to Mexico, talked about letting the well of joy inside of us to “flow out in constant rejoicing, so that sinners may know that the well is there.”  In support of this she stated that she had talked to many non-believers who had told her that “I can disbelieve your teaching, but your life of joy and contentment must come from God, because others have more material things than you have and yet have not the joy you have.”  (The Life of Faith by C. Nuzum © 1928, 1956 by Gospel Publishing House, Springfield, Missouri, page 42)

I believe that His joy, His Peace, and His Love are the “markings” that tell the world that we belong to Him and are the “marks” we should carry in our attitudes and personal actions every day!  Like that diamond ring on my future wife’s hand, these heavenly “marks” show everyone that we are already taken… and that the Taker is good!  I am sure that you can see the worry and anxiety that is written in the eyes of many of the people you pass by each day.  Your joy, peace and love will easily rub off on them and they will find themselves longing for what you’ve got!

I began to laugh about that thought last night and woke up my wife who was sleeping contently next to me in the front seat.  When she began to stir I shared what I had been dwelling on and recounted to her that it was her joyful countenance that first attracted me to her as a junior in high school!  That joy changed my life and eventually brought me into a personal relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior.  I wanted what she had!

So go ahead and wear the “mark” of Christianity today.  Psalm 118:24 tells us to rejoice and be glad since this is the day that the Lord has made!  Because of your trust in Him, put a smile on your face and a hop in your step and allow the well of joy that is in you to splash over all you come in contact with today!  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What SPLASH of JOY am I expecting to SPILL today?”