How deeply consoling to know that we are not our own. St Paul assures us that we have been “claimed as God’s own” and “stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit.” This is not a cold and distant ownership, but a tender and intimate claiming on the part of God. To be sealed by the Spirit is to be held securely in the palm of God’s loving hand. This seal is not a shackle; it is the source of our true freedom. Freed from the crushing need to prove our worth, freed from the tyranny of others’ opinions, and ultimately, freed from the fear of death. The world tells us to fear those who can harm the body, but Christ turns our gaze upward. He does not command a slavish terror, but a reverent awe for the One Who holds our eternal destiny. To “fear” God in this sense is to recognise His supreme authority and to rest in His perfect justice and mercy.

The psalmist sings, “Happy the people the Lord has chosen as His own.” Our happiness lies in being chosen, not because of our merit, but because of His boundless love and grace. When we live as His sealed and chosen ones, earthly threats lose their sting. We can walk through the shadows unafraid, for we belong to the One who counts every hair on our head and we are worth much more than hundreds of sparrows.