When we moved to a smaller house a few years ago, I was faced with the unpleasant task of downsizing my belongings.

One especially difficult task I encountered was purging the contents of a filing cabinet that held 40 years worth of documents, most of which I hadn't seen in decades.

There was a handful of files I simply couldn't trash. Priceless memories including drawings by little children, father’s day keepsakes, and report cards. Irreplaceable items that were given to me from loving children to their “Daddy”.

In John 17, as Jesus prays to the Father, He refers to His people as “those whom You have given Me”.

Thus, Jesus helps us to understand that if we've confessed Him as our Lord and Saviour, then we've been given to Him by the Father.

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world." (John 17:24)

J.C. Ryle's comment on this verse helps us put it in perspective: "This is a singularly beautiful and touching conclusion to our Lord’s remarkable prayer. We may well believe that it was meant to cheer and comfort those who heard it, and to strengthen them for the parting scene which was fast drawing near. But for all who read it even now, this part of his prayer is full of sweet and unspeakable comfort. We do not see Christ now. We read of him, hear of him, believe in him, and rest our souls in his finished work. But even the best of us, at our best, walk by faith and not by sight, and our poor halting faith often makes us walk very feebly in the way to heaven. There shall be an end of all this state of things one day. We shall at length see Christ as he is, and know as we have been known."

We may be despised and forsaken by the world, but we're precious to Jesus, and He's going to go on loving and treasuring us for time and eternity.

Just as I've saved my children's gifts and would never part with them, Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you.

“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:39-40 NIV)

If you're a believer in Jesus, then you're a gift from the Father to the Son.