Come and Belong

The more time that passes, the more I realize and understand that I will never truly “arrive”. Not here on this earth. Our lives here are only temporary, but every moment of them is a journey. We work so hard to proceed to whatever we think is the next step. I go to college so that I can earn a degree so that I can hopefully get a “good” job so that I can support myself so that I can start a family so that I can raise children in the ways of the Lord… it doesn’t really ever end. There are several things I find funny about this mindset. First of all, who am I to say what will or will not happen in my life? “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14). We are not promised even the next moment. But I also find it funny how self-centered that entire mindset becomes. It becomes all about my hopes and dreams and success. But this journey is not my story. I only play a small part in the eternal tapestry of God’s creation and story of redemption. This story is not about what I accomplish or who I am, instead it is about whose I am.  “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16). We either belong to sin (and thus to death) or we belong to Christ, being justified by His righteousness.

John Piper explains the invitation of the gospel as: “If Christ’s, then come and belong”. This story is not about me. I belong completely to Christ because it is by His blood and His grace that I am ransomed from my former life of sin. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). This is nothing of our own doing; God chose to put Christ’s righteousness upon us while we were still sinners. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). So since I am ransomed I am now a child; I belong. Belonging to God changes the entire view and purpose of my journey. It is no longer about my dreams, success, or desires. Belonging to Christ leads to a Christ-centered life. God’s glory becomes our joy, His honor and praise becomes the delight of the soul. To quote John Piper again, “He created us in such a way that His glory is displayed through our joy in it”.  Belonging to God’s family establishes the purpose “that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). 

This journey is an invitation. An invitation to come and belong.