Have you ever thought about where you belong or where you fit? I think all of us have pondered in our hearts a sense of belonging and a sense of needing to belong. We all have a deep need for human contact even if we are a person who enjoys solitude. We were created to be in a relationship with each other. When God created Adam, He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Gen 2:18 NIV
It is not good for man or woman to be alone. Everyone at some point in their lives will need another person. It is not good to be alone nor were we created to be alone.
God created marriage and family. He loved us first so we would love Him. He created us to be loved by Him and by others and to reciprocate love to Him and others. If a person doesn’t feel they belong it is hard to believe, they are loved.
To belong means to be a part of something or have relation to someone; while longing is a craving or eager desire. All of us at one time or another have had a desire to be known by others in a way where there are no walls, no fronts, and no need to pretend. I call the kind of people around me that allow me to be me, home. These people don’t have to be blood-related, they just have to feel like home. Because we are citizens of heaven and not the earth, people of the same Spirit can have a feeling of home.
[There is] one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all, and in you all.
- Eph 4:4-6 NKJV
One of the reasons we have these deep desires to belong is because we are born rejected by God. Yes, rejected by God.
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden [His] face from you, So that He will not hear. - Isa 59:2 NKJV
God rejects sin. When we are born into this world, we were born into the sin of this world, and until we are reconciled through Jesus Christ, we remain separated from God. In this separation place, we can feel the rejection of Heaven; it often causes us to seek for a greater understanding of the unseen world. Hopefully, all the seeking ends at Jesus Christ. We also know all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, - Rom 3:23. Not one person can say they haven’t sinned and today, even still, fall short of the glory of God.
To be rejected is to be thrown away, cast off and refused. None of those things feel good to any of us yet we all experience rejection at some point in our lives. During these times of rejection, we desperately need to belong somewhere, to someone. We need someone to understand our pain and to walk through it with us; sadly many people don’t have a person they consider “home” to help them through, and so they suffer alone.
Even within the Church, what is called the “Body of Christ,” a place where everyone should belong and have a sense of home, rejection is experienced. The Church has not done a very good job at helping people to belong at times. I believe it is because of the people in the Church who suffer from rejection and carry it with them, leading to walls of protection. Pain begets pain. There is good news though, even when people let us down Jesus Christ never will. God said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you ~ Heb 13:5.”
These two verses have something in common, “I belong to Christ, to God.”
For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. - Mar 9:41 NKJV
"For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, - Act 27:23
Because we belong to God, we are always in a family unit, somewhere in this world in your city or town is a fellowship with your name on it. In this place, you have brothers and sisters with the same DNA, the Spirit of God. They might not have your genetic DNA, but they have the same Papa Spirit. Jesus said those who He called His mother and brothers were those who hear God’s word and put it into practice, Luke 8:21. Because of Jesus Christ, we have a family even if we have no family born to us.
When you are feeling alone, it is a good practice to meditate on how the Savior of the world may have felt during His time on earth. I often think about that day Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. An intimate relationship for three years ended with the kiss of betrayal and 30 shekels. How often do our own relationships end with a kiss of betrayal? Jesus knows.
He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, [our] faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. - Isa 53:3 NKJV
Please allow me to encourage you to return to God if you have walked away for any reason. The writers of Hebrews tell us not to forsake the assembling together, but rather exhort one another. Let today be the day you trust in the Lord to go back into fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Only this time go forth knowing these are merely people and every day they have the same opportunity as you to fall short of the glory of God. Every day they have the same opportunity to face rejection and the fear of rejection and enter the doors of a church or fellowship, trusting God for the outcome.
Let’s Pray,
Heavenly Father, Glorious Savior, thank You for giving me the sense of belonging. Before I knew You, I was known by You. You have always had a plan and purpose to prosper my life if I would only give You the opportunity. Forgive me for giving up on Your Sons Bride, forgive me for not trusting my heart to You within the walls of relationships whether in the Church or elsewhere. Today I ask for Your help in laying down old offenses and picking up faith. Help me to see people from Your perspective and not the wounds of my soul. I thank You that every day Your mercies are made new, today I make a withdrawal from the currency of Heaven, called Mercy. God, I love You, In Jesus name, I pray. Amen