I used to work in a diner in college where the waitresses were a multigenerational mix of women and the owner was a self-starter, single mother who had been battling congenital heart disease since birth. The place had a mom-and-pop feel to it. Customers came back day after day, week after week. We knew their orders and how they liked their coffee. We knew their names.
We knew that the Sheldons liked fresh Arnold Palmers every 15 minutes—heavier on the tea than lemonade—and that Cindy would always order her omelet without cheese. We were ready with hugs and prayer the afternoon Evelyn received the call that her daughter was in a boating accident. Once a month, retired teachers from the elementary school down the street would meet and reminisce on 40 years of faithful service in public education. Rob and his crew were our early-bird crowd, fresh off the night shift with a local construction company. They were with us while we refilled the sugars at sunrise and the coffee was on its first brew. People came first for the breakfast tacos and pancake specials, but I like to think that they returned because they felt at home.
Places like this diner draw us in because they provide consistency and community. Each of us has that place or person we turn to when we are hungry for the affirmation that we are known—that we “fit.” These are the qualities that keep us coming back to shows like Cheers and Friends because they depict that which our hearts long for—belonging.
This morning I woke up to the call to prayer just before the sunrise. I have lived in the Middle East for the last three and a half years, and I recently moved to a new apartment in a new city. My books and winter clothes are tucked in boxes in the corner, suitcases half open lying flat on the floor. My new roommate will be here for the next three weeks—after which she will be replaced with someone else—and the only friends I have at the local church will be gone for the next few months visiting the States. I have moved close to 15 times since I graduated college. I have seen my fair share of dear friends come and go, landed in places that tasted and smelled like nothing I had ever experienced, and wondered how I would establish a new routine, community, and space of my own time and time again.
Whether you are a vagabond like me or are planted in one place, there is no doubt you have wrestled with what it means to belong. We all want a place in our workplace, our family, our neighborhood. Even in the church—where we as believers are most meant to belong—we can struggle to find deep connection and feel truly known.
While I have what we are now calling a “tribe” of good friends collected from various seasons of life and a loving family back home, I can’t help but notice that belonging, as God portrays it in his Word, is deeper than having a place in whatever group or season in which we find ourselves. Perhaps we are most often disappointed by our lack of belonging because we seek it in places where it can only be found temporarily. Yet, the belonging God offers to his children is one that stands outside of time. Of all that the joys promised in the life of a believer, here are three things God tells us about our belonging:
We Have Someone to Whom We Belong
“But now thus says the Lord,
Isaiah 43:1
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.'”
In Isaiah 43:1, we are reminded that the Creator God calls us by name and claims us as his own. We see this concept of God’s ownership and our belonging in John 10, too. Jesus describes himself as a Shepherd and his followers as sheep–guided, cared for, and sought after by the Shepherd. In verse 14 Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.” There is a response on our part here, too—we know him in return and respond to the sound of his voice (John 10:3-5). Our belonging to God warrants a response of obedience.
In Jesus, the truth of belonging to God becomes vivid. We are told that God “predestined us for adoption” (Ephesians 1:5), and because of the perfect sacrifice of Christ we are now children of God and “fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:15-17). Irrespective of our own earthly parents, we have the joy of belonging to God as his adopted children. For all who profess faith in Christ, he has elevated us to the position of being fellow heirs with Jesus—inheritors of his goodness, grace, kingdom, and power.
Throughout Scripture we see the triune God portrayed as Father, Master, Teacher, Good Shepherd, and Helper. Each depiction is personal and communicates that we are in his hands, belonging to him. Part of our identity as believers is that of belonging to God. We are his!
We Have a Group in Which We Belong
In Matthew 12:49-50, Jesus stretches out his hands toward his disciples and says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Most of the disciples were not related to Jesus, yet he refers to his followers as his family. We know that Jesus’ biological brothers did not believe in him (John 7:5) and that he faced rejection in his own hometown (Matthew 13:57). For many believers, particularly in the global Church, they no longer find belonging in their family. Whether we face outright rejection or just distance, often our earthly families are not the group we truly fit in with. However, in the Church we have a new family to call our own.
Often, the Church of Christ is a collection of unlikely people bound together by the Holy Spirit. From a worldly perspective, we might have nothing in common with the people at our local church. But in another sense, we share in everything that matters.
Luke describes the early church in Acts 2:42-47 as people daily devoted to prayer, praise and the apostle’s teaching. He mentions the breaking of bread together two times and emphasizes that they sold their possessions so that they could distribute the proceeds to anyone who had need among the congregation. In verse 44 Luke states, “And all who believed were together and had all things in common” (emphasis mine). They had “all things in common”? These are tax collectors, fishermen, beggars, Pharisees, centurion soldiers, and women of all backgrounds. These are people who were delivered from demon-possession, leprosy, prostitution, and all kinds of sin. These are Jews and Gentiles. There is no cultural, social, ethnic, political, or economic divide we face today that was not equally divisive at the time of the early church. Yet, later on in Acts 4:32, these people are described as being “of one heart and soul.” Miraculously, by the power of the Holy Spirit, they were unified and deeply committed to life together as a family of believers.
If you belong to a church body where most members duck out at the close of the service and conversations are hovering at the surface, perhaps God is calling you to lead in living like a family—a committed, messy, and supernaturally bound hodge-podge of people destined for eternity together. Even death will not permanently part us. As believers, this is the group we belong in!
We Have a Place in Which We Belong
As a person who is frequently on the move, my daydreams often entail envisioning what it would be like to pack my suitcases away and have a garden I could actually commit to caring for. I would even settle for a potted outdoor plant. While I love my life and work, I know I am not the only one who holds an inner desire for a permanent place to call home.
Throughout the biblical narrative, we see God ascribe significance to his people having a physical place. When he creates Adam and Eve, he brings them to the garden—their place to belong and care for. In Genesis 15:18, God makes a covenant with Abraham saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates . . .” These are physical places—actual dirt, mountains, trees, and water God intended his people to dwell in and care for. Throughout much of the early Old Testament, we see the Israelites on a journey to a place—their God-ordained land. Nations wage war over physical places (then and still today). In Revelation 21:1-3, John describes his vision of the coming kingdom of God saying:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.’”
For all the joys that eternity with Christ will offer us, one of them is that the Bride of Christ—the Church (us!)—will have a place to dwell and belong. This place was created for us by the God who created us so that we might live on in relationship with him and each other. There is a sense in which the life of a believer is just one great journey to our heavenly home.
Our longing for a physical place to belong is not worldly. This longing is a theme throughout Scripture and frequently part of God’s promises to his people. It’s ingrained in Western culture to invest in beautiful homes and work toward retirement on that perfect patch of earth, but this is just a worldly manifestation of a heavenly desire. This world is a shadow of the place for which we were created. We are kingdom-dwellers destined for a new heaven and new earth, where we will live with our King forevermore. We have a place in which we belong!
Application
This week, ask the Lord to show you where in your life you are seeking belonging in that which is temporary. Spend time in the Word investigating the three areas of belonging that a believer is promised and consider how you can lean into these truths.
How can you remind yourself you belong to our Heavenly Father? What would it look like for you to lead in living like family at your church? How can you root your earthly desire for a home in the promise of your heavenly one? Then, share the area that most encouraged or challenged you with a person in your community this week!
Photo credit: Emilee Carpenter
Haley is an international aid worker, born and raised in Southern California. A lover of slow mornings, deep chats, and the color mustard yellow, her idea of the perfect day starts with too many cups of coffee around the kitchen table with friends and family. Her pipe dreams include owning a dog, visiting an elephant sanctuary, and experiencing an East Coast autumn. Currently living and working in the Middle East, she is passionate about making Christ known in every corner of the world.
