The Belonging

Hi there, glad you stopped by to read my post. It’s been an amazing journey ever since the start of PivotPost. I’ve received some really good responses, thankful to everyone who has supported me and given me valuable feedback over the past few months. Special shout-out to my twin brothers— Abey & Jeremy for painstakingly going through my write-ups before I post them here. This month, I want to talk about something really simple but crucial for us to understand. Here’s what I want to address in this post, where do we really belong? 

Let’s dive in…

Groupie

Heard this word lately? In essence, all it means is a group of people who are absolutely obsessed with a famous personality or pop star. This word is popular in music and film circles. Remember the era of Michael Jackson? People were so obsessed with him, they would do anything to get his attention! In the same way, Justin Bieber, crowds would do anything to watch him perform, paparazzi as well. There is this strong invisible bond that’s created. What about sports fans in a stadium? There’s a strong desire and intent to support a team and cheer them on to win. I remember recently in a public setting, the Indian national anthem played and I was filled with a strong sense inside of me as the tune played out.

I’m using this as an illustration, to bring out a larger point. You see, everyone has the sense to belong to something, including me and you. For example, I love to be with people who like football or talk about football, because it’s something I’m passionate about. In the same way, you put me in a group of people that talk about fashion, and I’m out! Each of us has a strong sense to belong to something whether you know it or not.

Trackback with me…

When we go back to Genesis 1, we see God in the picture, His Spirit was hovering over. He creates everything with His Word! Then comes Genesis 1:26, it says “Let US make MAN in OUR Image”. Which tells me we were created to belong to God, to have that perfect relationship with Him. That was our original design. However, Sin enters the World through Adam and that sense of belonging gets cut off. There is this huge barrier created and it’s something we can’t do anything about.

Look at the state of the world around us today. We are so bound by Sin and it has blinded our spiritual eyes. Not too long back, my Youth Pastor asked me to do a session on Current affairs in our Youth meeting, addressing the most talked about topics amongst the youth today. Homosexuality, Social Media Addiction, Premature relationships, Corruption & Injustice were the topics that surfaced. These seem to be the major topics of today. In my observation, we’re struggling as a culture, we are so far away from God. In fact, the latter part of Romans 1:30 says we are “inventors of evil”. Meaning we create ways to disobey God. We tend to put our belonging to something that’s not perfect, which eventually makes us imperfect.

Guess what, this transcends to us as believers too. There seems to be a lot of noise around right? Noise, that makes us cling to something. We see believers so lost, especially young people, wanting to belong to something else. We’re trapped in the Sound of Culture. We don’t want to associate ourselves with the Church and God because it’s not cool or relevant anymore.

Then comes the other spectrum, we have tried our best to belong to God, we have done everything, yet it’s not enough (see Isaiah 64:6 & Romans 3:23). Even God’s people in the Old Testament through the Law couldn’t do anything to please God. Simply because they had to fulfill the entire law, which is impossible! Sin has done its damage!

In the midst of all this mess, there is a God who had a plan. He did not leave us alone, He took upon Himself the mandate to get us back. Here comes the good news, Jesus Christ enters the scene 2000 years ago to get back all that Sin has taken from mankind. To restore our true state and belonging! 

We are called to belong…

To Christ first…

Jesus’ ultimate mission was to seek and save the lost (see Luke 19:10). God loved us so much that he would send Jesus to die on a pole for a sinner like me, think about that for a moment. Look at the drastic step God took upon Himself, to bring us back. Apostle Paul puts it this way in Romans chapter 5, verses 7&8— a man would rarely die for another man if he had some value or if he was someone important. Yet Christ died for us while we were sinners. He died while you & I were dirty and in SIN. He took the dirt upon Himself! What kind of love is that? This is the Good News of the Gospel!

On the Cross, He defeated the enemy once for all for us to reign in victory and righteousness (see Colossians 2:15) Jesus broke the power of Sin (see Galatians 3:13). Now we can live a life free to receive from God (see Romans 5:17). Jesus also came To build His Church, His People for greater Glory. Which brings me to my next point….

To each other…

If we look at the God we serve, He is a community within- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When He created us in His image, we are to reflect His image, which means we are also called to reflect community. We are not called to be lonely, isolated etc. We are the church of Jesus, that’s me, you and everyone who puts their faith in Jesus. The Church must be a place to reflect the God we serve. 1 Peter 2:5 talks about us believers as “living stones” to make God’s Building. When we come together, we make this beautiful spiritual building, with Christ our cornerstone. This must be our true image together as a body.

A call to be together…

We need each other, look at the world around us, it’s so easy to go outside, we’ve got so many options and different kinds of communities. Let’s stay connected, we see in the Book of Acts (see Acts 1:14 & 2:42), the early believers, they had so much power and grace I believe because they were together. The writer of Hebrews 10:24-25 gives us this instruction— “not giving up meeting together”. Apostle Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica for us as an example to follow in 1 Thessalonians 5:11— Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Final Thought

As I conclude, I want to make a plea. Let’s go back and look at the God we serve and realize the riches we have in Christ Jesus. I believe we all need a revelation of what we truly have in Jesus through the Cross. My desire is for us to have this intimate relationship with Him. The World we’re living in filled with Sin and will continue to erode in it, we need our Saviour to carry us through.

Finally, let’s stay connected as a body, we need each other, for love and support. I see so many young people lost in the Church because we don’t extend our hand towards them. Let’s reach out. Let’s be the Church of Jesus, advancing together, you and me.

I hope you have been blessed with this short post, feel free to share with others who may find it useful. 

God Bless
– Sam D. Mathews