Discover Your Belonging
We all long to belong and find our place in this world. Have you found yours?
Smartphones claim to put connection in the palm of our hands, and yet, we feel more disconnected than ever before. And a quick Google search of the loneliest cities in America reveals that we live in the 3rd loneliest city in our country.
Lonely is no way to live when we are created for relationships.
So what can you do about it?
First, we are created for a relationship with God (which we began to explore in the previous post). And we are created for relationships with others. God acknowledges this reality and does something about it.
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:18, NIV).
When God surveys his creation, everything is good--well, except for this one thing: man is lonely. Even while the man was in the Garden of Eden enjoying an unhindered relationship with God, something--or should I say someone--was missing.
Even a relationship with God--in its purest form--shouldn’t be experienced alone. Life is better together. Life with God is better together, too.
When Jesus walked the earth, he clarified what should characterize his community--those who follow him--and it is not the first word that comes to mind when we ask our atheist coworker (or maybe even ourselves if we’re honest) their thoughts on church. Here is Jesus’ expectation for his followers:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35, NIV).
Judgmental? No. Hypocritical? No. Correct? No.
Loving.
That is how Jesus wants his followers (the Church) to be known.
Though I played varsity sports, I never felt fully accepted by the jocks, and I never dressed cool enough to fit in with the popular kids. My longing for belonging was only ever satisfied in the church.
Up to that point, I had celebrated snow days from church like snow days from school. then my parents dragged me to yet another church. This one was different: it was a new church in town, and they didn’t even have a building. However, once I met my peers that didn’t matter--they accepted me.
I know loving hasn’t been everyone’s experience with church (and if that is you, I’m truly sorry), but loving was my experience with the church, and for that I am forever grateful.
My search for belonging is complete, and now my focus is on helping others experience the joy of following Jesus in loving community--enter Connect Church.
If you are feeling disconnected, here are two steps you can take to experience connection in community:
(Re)Engage with a church. If we want to grow spiritually and we are looking for friends, look no further than the Church. Will you find a perfect church? No, because as soon as you or I show up, it gets messy. But, just because there isn’t a perfect church, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be a part of a local church. And for those of us who have thrown in the towel on church for one reason or another, Hebrews 10:24-25 is clear that we should NEVER STOP meeting together, but rather we should continue to spur one another on in love. The Church should be the place where love is most deeply experienced and most clearly expressed. If you are looking for a loving church, we’d love for you to be a part of Connect Church* and help us create a community known by its love.
Love well. Once you’re engaged in community, love one another well. Jesus is the ultimate model of love being full of grace and full of truth. If we try to love with only truth or only grace, we fool ourselves and shortchange those around us. To love well, we must be full of grace and truth. Maybe one day the community of Jesus will be known as he charged us to be known--by our love.
I can’t speak for all churches, but with Connect Church, you can belong with us before you believe what we believe. So, what do you say? Let’s grow in love as we follow Jesus together.
*To provide a safe context to connect amidst the spread of the Coronavirus, we are gathering in groups online. Social distancing doesn’t mean we have to isolate—we are better when we unite together.
Reflection Questions:
What did I learn?
What action step am I going to take?
With whom am I going to share this?