“Belonging is the innate human desire to be part of something larger than us” (Brené Brown).
Acts 11:26: “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.”
I Corinthians 3:23: “You belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God."
We crave the sense of completion, validation, and acceptance that comes with belonging. Families – and churches – were designed for this.
This time of year, my mind always returns to that autumn when I came to fully belong: the autumn I started first grade and learned to read; the autumn when I received my first Bible, the kind that zips up, with a little cross dangling from the zipper, with the picture of Jesus knocking on our heart’s door, and with my name imprinted on the cover.
Jesus was no stranger to me. Early on, my parents had introduced him as my friend who loved me – who even (get this) died for me. Unencumbered by lofty theological debates and questions, it was the easiest thing in the world for me to walk into the arms of the pastor, my daddy, and tell everyone there that I wanted to belong to Jesus, to ask Him to be my Savior and Lord. I was first called a Christian that night. I knew I belonged to Christ and to His Body, the Church.
In all the decades since that autumn, my life’s path has taken many turns, some of them undeniably wrong turns. The journey is often pleasant, sometimes extremely hard, but even in times when I have felt I belonged to no one else, I have always known that I still belong to Christ.
One of my favorite hymns expresses this so beautifully:
His forever, only His --
Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss
Christ can fill the loving heart.
Heav’n and earth may fade and flee,
Firstborn light in gloom decline,
But while God and I shall be,
I am His and He is mine.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, we thank you for coming into our world to show us the way home to the Father. Thank you for giving your life for us so that we might experience the miracle of salvation and the joy of fellowship that comes from belonging to you. At this difficult time, may we embrace the expectation of Advent and the power of your Holy Spirit to tell others about You and to minister to a lost, hurting, and dying world. Lord, it is because we belong to You that we ask this. Amen.
