Belonging, Part 2

So, I was going through and doing a bit of a brainstorm about this through the Bible. As mentioned, there is a lot about belonging, about being a part of something bigger than ourselves. It’s pretty awesome, and nice to be reminded of how God sees each one of us. Ahh, the joys of a fallen world though, that we are all fallible, and out human relationships may not always reflect what they were designed to be. We don’t always feel wanted, or want people to be a part of our lives, and while we can’t always change that, or make something that it’s not, we can choose our own actions and responses. We can choose relationship, connectedness and restoration. It’s not like we can be best friends with everyone, but we can respectfully care for each other. And we have responsibility for our own actions, not the actions of others, no matter how much we would like that sometimes.

Anyway, we belong to something bigger than ourselves, God’s family. We have a place to share, invite, to be that no one else can fill.

1 Corinthians 12: 14-18 (MSG)

I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

John 14: 1-4 (NIV)

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

John 15:4-6 (NIV)

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

The woman at the well was a misfit and didn’t belong, and yet to Jesus she was wholly welcomed.

Zacheus, so much  money, but not liked by any.

The Prodigal sons- the older son and the younger sons both belong, are part of the family, invited and welcomed in. They both always have a place in their Father’s home.

Ephesians 2:4-10

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,  in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

1 Peter 2:9-10

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

John 3:16-17 (MSG)

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.

Matthew 28: 18-20 (MSG)

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

Revelation 22:16-17 (NIV)

 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

Belonging

Belonging is such a funny thing. Social situations, finding a place to live, family, knowing your spiritual home- we all have our place. But so often it doesn’t feel like it. I have a friend who talks about a situation and the upshot of it was that they felt that they weren’t wanted, so they left. While it may have been in the end, because of a whole lot of miscommunication, it certainly wasn’t the case in the beginning. It had such huge potential. For me, belonging is such a vital thing. And while it’s nice to belong to a collective big group or community, I find it easier to navigate knowing I have a small tight knit group of friends there. They don’t need to always physically need to be there and present, but it’s nice to know they are there, and close by if we ever need each other. Sadly often, large group situations are often the loneliest places, where you can feel like you least belong.

In Vineyard churches, we often mention the phrase, ‘you can belong before you believe’. The inference being that you can belong to the community before you believe in Jesus and have a relationship with him. I wonder if we can belong….before we believe we belong. Even in church communities there are the ‘cool’ groups, and the whole spectrum of groups of people. Its not perfect, but that’s not the point. We are all human, and as such, fallible, and perfect too in our relationship with Jesus. No church will ever meet every one of our needs, but hopefully, we will know it to be a spiritual home, and as such, will be able to find our place in it all, and be a part of helping to make it a better place for each other, and a safe place to invite others into the ‘family’ so we can better travel this journey together.

Having recently gone through a particularly lonely situation recently, I was challenged to think through the whole concept of belonging all over again, and realized what a fundamental lie it is for us to believe, for my friend, for myself, in any situation. If we don’t feel like we belong, we can leave, quit, we can shirk our responsibility, and in the end leave a hole where we should have been. Jesus died so we might have a place to belong permanently now and forever.

The Bible of course, is littered with the theme of belonging, of having a promised land, a people to belong to, a family. For us now too, Jesus specifically talks about us being one body and many parts, and of each part doing its bit(1 Corinthians 12). If we don’t feel that we belong, the whole body misses out. It’s handicapped. Something is stolen from the individual and the community.

I could list of all the stories and references, but there are so many, so I won’t, but for my own sanity, and reminder, I hope to make a list of relevant verses to remind myself and others that we are each important, chosen, we belong.

We belong

Waiting for God's word to become reality

God gives you a promise, or a word. Something for you and your future. So often throughout the bible, God promises something, to give a hope and a future, a husband, or wife, a child, a promised land, a messiah, freedom from slavery. So often, the people receiving that promise have to wait. And wait. Sometimes way beyond realities of when it could humanly and naturally happen, and sometimes too, beyond their very lives. 

I have been so challenged by this, and living this out here and now. In places that call for boundaries, healthy relationships,reasonable, and seeing results,where is the place for waiting and trusting solely in Gods promises beyond the reasonable and human reality. Even in Christian circles,we are often encouraged to take action, do what we can, and yes,there's a place for that, such a place for working with God and journeying with Him in the process. But we don't often have a theology for it, or a framework from which to base ourselves in. It's a very wide, grey area, and can be so easy to put two and two together and come up with a whole new result that can be completely different to God's place, purely because we want to know the answer, or understand Gods plan in the situation. Seriously. How do you journey with it if it's not something that will happen in your lifetime?!? 

So, we wait, we trust, we listen really hard for his voice. We pray and give thanks to him who loves us so dearly. But we stand ready and expect the breakthrough, and look forward to receiving all the promises, and seeing all that God has promised lived out in our life.