The ultimate way to meet a need that everyone somehow experiences
By Dean Collins
We all have the desire to belong. Psychologists and sociologists have studied and written papers and books about our need to be a part of a group. If you doubt this need to fit in, just consider your adolescent years. How we chose to dress, our hairstyle, and our behaviors all indicated we were trying to figure out who we were and where we belonged. The search for belonging is as old as time and continues today.
Unfortunately, humans are terribly scarred by sin. Just as we all long for belonging, all of us have the potential to do our share of excluding. Some excluding is a normal part of life. I may be able to invite four people over for dinner tomorrow, but I can’t accommodate 100. Your daughter may try out for the high school basketball team, but she may be excluded from the roster because the roster has a set number. High school association rules, the budget of the athletic department, or her talent compared with that of the other candidates may all be behind the decision. No one intended harm in excluding your daughter; there were simply other factors in play.
Since the fall of man through today, individuals and groups have been excluded. Sins of classism, racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination have harmed generations before us and sadly continue both far and wide and even in our own communities nearby.
We all belong
The apostle John’s first epistle reminds believers that we all belong. He wrote toward the end of the first century, at a time of crisis for early Christians. There were some who were teaching that Jesus hadn’t really come to earth in the flesh but rather appeared to be human. John knew this was a dangerous drift away from the truth and wrote to make sure this false teaching was corrected.
As he opened his letter he made sure the reader knew he had seen Jesus with his own eyes, had heard his teachings directly, and had physically touched him. John was not at the creation of the world but wanted to make sure we understood that Jesus was. John was not at the birth of Jesus, but he had traveled with Jesus during his adult life, including his crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and ascension.
John’s letter gave testimony to what he had seen and to the belonging that comes through what the Father has made visible and available to us in Jesus. Christ has offered everyone who believes in Jesus a way to belong in the family of God. Our faith accompanied by surrender to Jesus means we belong to God and to each other. John said it this way: “We proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
Flesh and blood
This is not a punch-and-cookies kind of fellowship you might experience at a reception somewhere. This is flesh and blood fellowship that comes to us because Christ offered his very self on the cross to grant us access to the Father because our sins are paid in full. This is bread and wine fellowship that we share because as brothers and sisters in Christ we commune with God when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, together.
This belonging we have comes to us because Jesus did come in the flesh, live among men, die a sinless death, lie buried in a tomb, and rise from death alive on the third day. He did not float around without his feet touching the ground simply doing miracles. He lived in the flesh, felt the pain and suffering of humanity, and loved us so much that he gave his life for us to break all darkness. As John said, we walk in the light, as he was in the light, when we are fully surrendered to Jesus. Our confession of sin breaks the self-deception that haunts us and grips us in this life. Confessing our sins cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
Making a sports team, joining a gardening club, or being a member of the alumni association of your college are all nice ways to find belonging. But nothing compares to the joy of belonging to the family of God made possible to us through the gift of Jesus!
Your time with God’s Word
1 John 1:1-10 ESV
Photo by Clay Banks at Unsplash.com
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