It might be good to ask yourself, “On what do I base the idea that I have relationship with God?” As we’ve noted, the basis for relationship is faith. But how do you know what this relationship is? As a believer, what is your relationship with God?  

Over the next couple of weeks we’ll examine the relationships with God Paul identified:

• Adopted Son or Daughter

• One of His people

• Sons of God (with a little ‘s’)

• A Child of GodI feel like I belong to my family and to my close friends. I don’t feel like I belong to or with most people I know. I measure this feeling of belonging against things I can observe, like the commitment we have to each other, to have each other’s backs, to be there when one of us is going through a hard time. How would you measure these things in your life? 

We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

Have you ever felt a “sense of belonging”?  

When have you thought to yourself, “I feel like I belong?” Remember what’s been said about feelings in the context of this question. Feeling like - sensing - you belong isn’t an emotional feeling. You may feel emotional when you think about it, but those feelings are secondary to knowing this sense of belonging.

I feel like I belong to my family and to my close friends. I don’t feel like I belong to or with most people I know. I measure this feeling of belonging against things I can observe, like the commitment we have to each other, to have each other’s backs, to be there when one of us is going through a hard time. How would you measure these things in your life? 

We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

Most of us can easily imagine what it is like to be rejected for any of a million reasons. Everything changes when you place your faith in Christ! That simple choice moves into this amazing place. When you choose to believe, you instantly change from rejected to accepted! You change from being out to being in. For those who, in this world have actually been adopted, there is this momentous change. While every story of adoption is different, no story I’ve heard describes the experience God intends when you choose Him than the one here.

We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

Most of us can easily imagine what it is like to be rejected for any of a million reasons. Everything changes when you place your faith in Christ! That simple choice moves into this amazing place. When you choose to believe, you instantly change from rejected to accepted! You change from being out to being in. For those who, in this world have actually been adopted, there is this momentous change. While every story of adoption is different, no story I’ve heard describes the experience God intends when you choose Him than the one here.

We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

In our most recent blog we took a bit of a rabbit trail in order to give a bit of contest to what will follow as we continue posting blogs from the bool, “From Here …By Faith,” by Lenny Ouradnik, we encouraged to read through Ephesians chapters 1-3. The purpose for reading this passage is to help you grasp the enormous and wonderful things God has for you in His Kingdom. You belong to this Kingdom now! We’ll continue our look at this passage for answers to the question, “What is it you belong to?”

We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

All this talk of belonging might beg the question, what is it you belong to? As a believer in Christ, you belong in and to the Kingdom of Heaven! The phraseology is so simple. You belong to something. That’s awesome! Can you tell what the Kingdom of Heaven is? What do you have access to as a member of this Kingdom? What does it feel like -to you - that you belong to the Kingdom of Heaven?We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

When you chose Christ, the Father chose you. In an incomprehensible way, He chose you as you chose Him. We know He chose us because of what John wrote in 1 John 4:19. We love, because He first loved us. The loving and the choosing go hand in hand.  

We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

The essence of belonging is emotional—or better, a sense or a feeling. It is understood with the heart. When I say this “sense of belonging” is understood with the heart, I mean that it might be best described as a feeling. In this case, I suggest that we use the term “feeling” and the term “emotion” separately and differently in which “feeling” and “sense” are more related, and “emotion” is used to refer to being happy or sad or something like that. I may or may not feel emotional about this sense. The sense of belonging I have with my friends and family doesn’t always carry emotion. It’s just there. I trust the love of my family and friends. I feel secure knowing their love and care.   

Look at the list of some of the ways you belong in Him. Which of these statements of belonging mean the most to you?  

• You belong in God’s family  

• You are in His Kingdom   

• You have His inheritance; are a part of His inheritance  

• You are in His presence   

• You are in His will   

• You are with him  

• You are with Him in friendship    

• You are with Him in fellowship        

• You are with Him in living, in being   

• You belong to His church   

Over the last several weeks we have talked the idea of belonging. Belonging has been a bit difficult to talk about because it is hard to define. For the next few blogs we’ll conclude discussion around this section of blogs from the book “From Here …By Faith,” by Lenny Ouradnik.

Let me encourage you to think about what it means to really belong to God. Look through the prayer that Paul writes to the Ephesians beginning in Chapter 1 and continuing all the way through Ephesians 3. See how Paul prays for you to come to know Jesus and how meaningful it is that you belong! Let it sink into your heart and, as he says, let His love take root in your heart in a way that you may never have imagined.  

The story of the prodigal son ( see our most recent blog here: Sense of Belonging: Prodigal Son) should provoke at least one question.

If an earthly father can have this kind of love for a wayward son, how much more love can our Father in heaven have for us? If He loves us so much, then could it be that He wants to belong to us as well? Could it be that, somehow, our belonging to Him and He belonging to us is the proper way to understand your relationship with Him?

The end of the prodigal son’s story is that no matter what the son did to reject his family, to disavow his belonging to his family, and to cut off his family from his presence, he still belonged. And then, to bring, at his own hand, his life to complete and utter ruin and finally return home to his family, he found that his belonging was never cut off from him. His father still accepted and loved his son. He belonged. He knew in the moment he saw his father run to him that he was never, ever, for even a second, rejected, ostracized or cut off from his family. Instead, he was welcomed home as though only coming home from a long journey. This sense of belonging is needed down, way down, deep in the core of our being.    

From Here Books by Lenny Ouradnik announces two new books in the series!  The first, From Here… Together: Becoming a Disciple of Christ and the second book From Here… Together: Practice of a Disciple of Christ.

Becoming a Disciple of Christ focuses on what mature disciples of Christ become: Mature, loving members of the body of Christ who are able to love people and provide wise counsel.When you have THAT with a person, you BELONG.We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

From Here Books by Lenny Ouradnik announces two new books in the series!  The first, From Here… Together: Becoming a Disciple of Christ and the second book From Here… Together: Practice of a Disciple of Christ.

Becoming a Disciple of Christ focuses on what mature disciples of Christ become: Mature, loving members of the body of Christ who are able to love people and provide wise counsel.When you have THAT with a person, you BELONG.We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

From Here Books by Lenny Ouradnik announces two new books in the series!  The first, From Here… Together: Becoming a Disciple of Christ and the second book From Here… Together: Practice of a Disciple of Christ.

Becoming a Disciple of Christ focuses on what mature disciples of Christ become: Mature, loving members of the body of Christ who are able to love people and provide wise counsel.When you have THAT with a person, you BELONG.We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

More on 'Belonging'

If someone really knows you and even accepts you as you are but doesn’t “share their life” with you, then there’s no belonging either. To belong is to “participate in” the life of another and have that person participate in your life. Sharing life is sharing the truth about our histories, struggles, victories, dreams, fears, hopes, desires, values — everything.

When you have THAT with a person, you BELONG.We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

More on 'Belonging'

If someone really knows you and even accepts you as you are but doesn’t “share their life” with you, then there’s no belonging either. To belong is to “participate in” the life of another and have that person participate in your life. Sharing life is sharing the truth about our histories, struggles, victories, dreams, fears, hopes, desires, values — everything.

When you have THAT with a person, you BELONG.We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

One way to define a 'sense' of belonging is to break it down into

1.   Knowing (= truly seeing and being seen).

2.   Loving/Accepting (= affirming, valuing, celebrating, inviting, including, etc.).

3.   Sharing life.

It’s one thing to say you LOVE another when you don’t KNOW that other. It’s another thing to KNOW them and still LOVE them.

We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

IIs there more to understanding or knowing this “sense of belonging” than going to church or paying dues at the country club? The truest forms of love, which are (when it remains a true friendship based in love and grace) and true friendship, all seem to share a few common elements:   

1.   Knowing (= truly seeing and being seen). 

2.   Loving/Accepting (= affirming, valuing, celebrating, inviting, including, etc.).    

3.   Sharing life.    

We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

I have come to believe that you and I should focus our efforts on developing a deeper understanding of our relationship with Him. By understanding, I mean something like Paul wrote in Ephesians 3, that you would become rooted and established in love. It won’t be enough to learn what can be known of your relationship with Him with your mind alone. The deeper understanding worth seeking and finding is the understanding that can only be known in your heart.  

We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!