Belonging

I asked our youth group kids if they had ever felt like they didn’t belong. It was a unanimous, “Yes!” We may expect that from teens, but I’ve talked to many people who feel the same. Reasons I heard were being ignored, standing out for some reason, not as athletic, not as smart, not as good-looking, not as funny or entertaining, not as spiritual, being told I don’t belong or feeling like the only one in a broken relationship.

I have felt that way. As an early teen, I didn’t know much about doing hair. I didn’t have money for the cool fashions. I was rather homely. I didn’t belong. As a young adult working with the youth, I felt like the rest of the women in my church were all spiritually mature, barely sinned. That was not me. I didn’t belong. Even now, I’m an introvert. I get lost in my studies. I fumble for what to say in conversation especially groups. I don’t think of myself as fun to be around. I don’t belong. As a devotional writer, women’s Bible study teacher and youth leader, I struggle with sin, daily. I don’t belong.

This is why no matter how many times I listen to “Well Done” by the Afters, I still cry.

Well done, well done

My good and faithful one

Welcome to the place where you belong

Well done, well done

My beloved child

You have run the race and now you're home

Welcome to the place where you belong

There is a place I belong. There is a place that I am welcomed with open, loving arms. There is a placed I am a beloved child. This isn’t only a place in the future. This is a place I belong right here, right now. It’s not an exclusive club. You can belong too. Maybe you already do, but like me you don’t always live with that beautiful truth in mind.

1 John 3:1b says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” If you have come to saving faith, you belong because you are loved by the Father. You belong because you are one of His children.

In 1 Corinthians 6:19 we see, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God is with you. You have purpose. You belong. The Father bought you, redeemed you with the price of His own Son’s blood. You belong to God.

Romans 8:31-39 assures you that if God is for you, who can be against you? You belong to Him. Death, life, angels, rulers, things in the present, things in the future, powers, heights, depths nor anything in creation can EVER separate you from the love of God. In Christ, you belong.

Genesis 1:27 declares that you were made in the very image of God. You belong. Psalm 139 describes how God knit you together in the womb. He knows every one of your days. There is no where you can go that He is not with you. You belong.

In case you still aren’t sure, Romans 14:8 makes it clear, “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's (emphasis added). You belong to the Lord of lords, the Ruler and Creator of heaven and earth, the omnipotent, omniscient, faithful, gracious, merciful, providing, sovereign, loving Father who calls you His own and makes you a co-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17).

When we feel like we don’t belong, we need to preach to ourselves the truths of who God is and who we are in Christ (both on my Resource page as a pdf). You belong.

Although it may not appear so, others around us are probably struggling with feeling like they don’t belong to. As a young adult when I looked at the other women in my church and thought they had arrived spiritually, I was wrong. None of us will be perfected or complete until heaven (Philippians 1:6). My guess is that if I had gotten to know those women, many would’ve been honest that they definitely had not arrived but were still growing. Or I might have learned some felt just like me but were putting on an outward I-have-it-together face.

God has been teaching me and by His Spirit working in me to be more honest in sharing my struggles and God’s grace especially with our youth group kids. I want them to know they are not alone. They do belong no matter what is going on in their lives. I want them to know they can come and talk to me as a fellow sinner not as a perceived (not actual) unapproachable spiritual giant.

I am a sinner but also a saint because of Christ. I belong because God chose me to be His child. He chose to lavish His love on me. He chose to welcome me into His family despite my sinner status. And one day He will welcome me into His full presence where I forever will belong and never feel otherwise.

I belong. You belong.