I WANT TO BELONG

Have you wanted to belong to a club but just haven’t been able to get in for one reason or another? Maybe you just didn’t qualify for membership. Or maybe your name didn’t sound right. Too little money? The wrong sex? Whatever the reason, even though you made it clear you wanted to belong, you still didn’t get in.

Belonging makes you part of the “property”. You find yourself associated with something or a member of something.

A wise husband does not tell his wife, “I own you and you will do only what I tell you to do.”

No parent owns a child in the sense that he says, “You can’t do anything at all unless I tell you to do it.”

Everyone belongs somewhere. However, there are some people who don’t feel they belong anywhere. No one knows where they came from. No one knows where they go. They float aimlessly around without anyone noticing. When you feel that way, it makes you unhappy. No matter what you may think, though, you do belong somewhere.

                          You belong to a family

Every person belongs to a family somewhere. Either birth or adoption makes it that way.

Though we may sometimes feel like an outcast, we still belong. Parents are instructed by God to not spare the rod, not spare for crying and not withhold correction. Sorry, disciples of Dr. Spock, that’s what God says. The doctor was right when he apologized for leading an entire generation in the wrong direction. God’s Word is still true and its principles still valid. Read it for yourself in Proverbs 13:24, 19:18 and 23:13.

We each belong to one of two spiritual families as well. A worldly birth brings us into Satan’s spiritual family where we will remain unless we find Jesus. All people have an opportunity to be born again into God’s family by receiving Christ as Lord and Savior. To put it simply, we are each either a member of Satan’s family or God’s family. What family do you belong to?

                  Every church member belongs to 

                               a church family

Joining that family is a result of salvation and scriptural baptism that is done on a voluntary basis.

God’s family is joined by salvation. The church is joined by baptism. Don’t be confused. We’re talking about two different things. Being born to parents that are already church members doesn’t make you a church member! Having relatives in positions of church leadership does not make you a member either. Simply attending church (no matter how many times) does not make anyone a member of that church. It’s possible a person attends church for a lifetime but never joins it. In that case, such a person never has church membership. How many people do that each week?

Church member, you have certain responsibilities to your church. God expects your faithful attendance by attending all meetings and activities you can possibly attend. Other things are also expected: prayer for the church, love for other church members, efforts to bring others into the same church family, live a life that makes people hungry and thirsty for the Savior and a good church home.

It seems more people feel the need to belong during the holiday season. This is one reason why they feel so lonely when they have nowhere to go or celebrate the holidays with. Families that have lost loved ones through death miss them most when the find themselves alone at Christmas.

I don’t know who wrote this poem and I certainly don’t intend to plagiarize it, but I also think its words are important. Think about them when you think about your need to belong somewhere.

Here are the rich and busy ones,
With things that must be sold;
No room for helpless hands within
This hostelry of gold.

Yet hunger dwells within these walls,
These shining walls and bright,
And blindness groping here and there
Without a ray of light!
Oh, lest we starve, and lest we die
In our stupidity,
Come, Holy Child, within and share
Our hospitality.


Let not our hearts be busy inns
That have no room for Thee,
Bur cradles for the living Christ
And His nativity.

I want you to know that when you know Christ as your Savior, you are NEVER alone. You belong to Him and He belongs to you. Nothing can separate us from God's love or the abiding presence of  Christ once we know Him.