What is it that makes you feel like you belong? When you walk into a store, is there a sense that you belong? Probably not. At your home when you walk through the door, do you experience belonging there? What about belonging at school or at work? Each of us has an innate desire to belong. We long to be wanted; we long to be loved.
While this topic could go in many directions, this blog is meant to focus on belonging in a church family. When we stop by on Sunday to worship God in our community called “Church”, what makes us feel like we belong? Surely the presence of our loving God, and the open doors of our church, but what calls us? We have a deep longing to be recognized and feel we belong to the “Body of Christ”. We long to have someone make eye contact and give a genuine “hello” or even a “how are you today?”. It goes even deeper than that. Belonging happens when we are invited to sit near someone. Belonging happens when someone asks for our opinion or advice. Belonging happens when someone invites us to join a group (even if we choose not to join). Belonging happens when someone compliments us or takes an interest in our life. These gestures of love hint at a relationship. What causes us to belong is when we are recognized, when our presence is acknowledged, when we are included just as we are, and when we are accompanied on our journey. These gestures let us know we are appreciated and not judged.
We are experiencing a tough time in our world. Remember to see each other and help each other feel the love of the Body of Christ. Take time today, this week and going forward to authentically see someone! Maybe a smile will help them feel they belong. Perhaps kindness will help them in their personal struggle of the day. “So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us…” (Ephesians 5:1)
Here is what the scriptures have to say…
Ephesians 5:1-3 – So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
1 Peter 2: 9-10 – But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were “no people” but now you are God’s people; you “had not received mercy” but now you have received mercy.
Acts 10: 34-35 – Then Peter proceeded to speak and said, “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.
Colossians 3:14 -And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.