It was 1981, and my newly immigrated parents trusted my kindergarten sense of awareness enough to concede to a Strawberry Shortcake metal lunchbox.
With that lunchbox in hand, I felt prepared for anything — but I wasn’t prepared for the lunchroom.
My parents didn’t know about Rainbo white bread, peanut butter and jelly, or bologna and American cheese. They showed their love by packing a cleaned-out Dannon yogurt container with the previous night’s dinner of fried rice. Let’s just say it didn’t go over well with my peers. Leftover fried rice effectively declared me an outsider. I did not belong.
It’s funny now … and of course we know lunchroom conformity isn’t true belonging.
Or do we? If only bringing the right lunch secured the belonging we’re all looking for! We know it doesn’t. But truth is, we live as though it might.
These days, it sometimes feels like the entire world is marked by angst and heartache. Like everyone on the internet is yelling at the same time about a variety of issues and ideologies. At times, we probably all navigate the fear of being misjudged, misunderstood or mislabeled.
Belonging is our current society’s commodity of choice — banding together with like-minded people and finding safety in arenas of common thought.
To be known and loved: That’s what we are longing for when we look for belonging. But what if belonging isn’t meant to be found within yourself or others? What if it is so much more than lunchroom conformity?
The Bible has a lot to say about our belonging as Christ-followers:
- I am not my own. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
- I belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. (1 Corinthians 3:23)
- I am purchased and paid for. (1 Peter 1:18-19)
- I am safe and secure. (John 10:27-30)
According to God’s Word, our self-acceptance isn’t something we’ll discover with enough self-love. Rather, it’s an extension of the work of redemption in our lives when we discover how much God loves us. We were made to belong to Jesus first. Not church denominations, political parties, justice movements or social circles.
In Christ, belonging isn’t mere affection, camaraderie or membership in the same club … It is so much more. The price of our belonging was set and met through the sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. That’s why Paul tells us we are “not [our] own” in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. God loves us so much that He rescued us from the grip of anything else that promises to satisfy but won’t. And instead, He made us belong to Him alone.
When we don’t remember that we were made to be God’s possessions, and what it cost for us to be His, we end up longing for belonging everywhere else. Through the clothes we wear, the people we engage, the work we do — we look for home in identifiers rather than in our identities in Christ.
We must know who we belong to! In Christ, we are fit and fashioned for the belonging we were always made for. So, friend, let go of all the world tells you to do in order to belong. In Jesus, you are already seen, known, rescued and loved.
Lord, thank You for Paul’s reminder that nothing — no weakness and no pressure — is too hard for You. Still my striving and help me replace it with wonder for Your power. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
