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!

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!

In our most recent blog we began working to communicate with you this idea that you belong in and to the Lord and in and to His Kingdom. For some, this is an easy thing to understand, while for others, including me sometimes, it is nearly incomprehensible. But, it doesn't take long to see it when you start looking.

John begins to communicate this idea of belonging within the first few verses of his Gospel.    

In verse 12, he says this:

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. John 1:12  We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

We’re building a foundation for the statements that remind us of this fundamental understanding of our walk with God:

Because I believe in Him, I have relationship with Him: I belong to Him and with Him

When I started to think about what it means to belong to Him and His Kingdom, how it might change my life and maybe yours, too, I was struck by the depth of meaning the idea of belonging holds.

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

Do you know the Apostles’ Creed or Nicene Creed from Catholic or Lutheran catechism? How did catechism help you in your walk with Christ?  

I’ve heard that for some that thinking about the Apostle’s Creed brings up bad memories or a reliance on too much tradition.  I would ask that you ask the Lord how to overcome those kinds of feelings. It isn’t that they aren’t valid. It’s that those feelings may keep you from learning the central ideas that Christians believe.We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!

What do you believe that makes you a Christian?

I am concerned that many don’t know how to answer the question, “What makes you a Christian?” While there are several ways to answer the question depending on how you perceive it, I am looking for an answer from you that identifies what you believe (know) about what Jesus did for you through His death on the Cross, His shed blood and His resurrection.

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

What do you believe that makes you a Christian? What is the value in knowing the Apostle’s Creed?

Because I believe in Him, I have relationship with Him (from our most recent blog).

The value for you in knowing the Apostle’s Creed today is to identify the main principles Christians of all denominations agree are the foundation of faith in Christ.  

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

Once you accept the Word, that you have entered His house by faith, and that by faith you have been given grace (Ephesians 2:10), you can conclude that you belong.   

Having accepted the above, you can then say this:   

Because I believe in Him, I have relationship with Him.    

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

“Whether you believe you could ever do any of the works we are talking about, it is important that you know what He thinks of you and what place you have in His house.”  

 If that’s true, then the right questions should be, “What does God think of you?” What place do you have in His House? His Kingdom? Whatever He thinks of you, what place you have is only relevant if you believe in Him.   

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

Do you walk through every day thinking and wondering if God even knows who you are, let alone any thought that you might come to know who He is?  

Whether you believe you could ever do any of the works we are talking about, it is important that you know what He thinks of you and what place you have in His house.  

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