Everybody has a deep need to belong. I remember how devastated I was when I got cut from the high school baseball team in 10th grade because I had mouthed off to the coach. Not smart. I had been part of the varsity squad in junior high school (9th grade), and I figured I was a shoe-in for at least the jv in high school. Being part of that baseball team was my sure ticket to respect, dignity, identity and friendship...or so I thought. I remember the head coach's words to this day: "We have 17 guys trying out for pitcher and you don't need to worry about coming back tomorrow." And that was it. It was over. I had made it very easy for him to reduce his squad by one.
I couldn't quite bring myself to totally exit stage left, so I became one of the assistant managers. I would have been better off just leaving, because at that school at that time, managers were viewed as the lowest creatures on the feeding chain. Kind of like slaves. We did what we were told and were not shown any respect. I had hoped that at least being connected to the team would give me a sense of belonging. It didn't. All it did was make me feel more like an outsider and foster resentment toward what could have been mine...being actually on the team...but wasn't to be...either that year or in the years to come.
Whether it is being part of a team, a club, a band, a work crew, a gang, a group of friends, or a close-knit family, we are social creatures by nature and all have a deep need to belong. Isolation from meaningful relationships is a killer and can drive people to hostility, bitterness, rage, insanity and even death.
That's why I am so grateful for our rescuing Father who sent His precious Son to pay the bloody price of a cruel death on the cross so that we could belong to Him and to His family. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for that sacrifice made on my behalf, and on yours as well. People may reject us and probably will. But in Christ, God never will.
He bought us. We are His. We belong to God.
"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." (1 Peter 1:18,19)
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