Belonging
By Don Campbell
Man has been dubbed a social animal. While some of us enjoy living at the end of the road either literally or figuratively—few of us want to live there alone. If we can judge by the number of marriages and the number of people living together without marriage, most of us seem to have a built-in need to belong and have someone belong to us. If there is no other human being with whom we wish to bond, we will often bond quite strongly with our cat or dog. I don’t want to offend animal lovers, but dogs and cats weren’t designed to satisfy our need to belong.
Adam had all the animals for companions, but God said, "It is not good that man should be alone." He then made a wife for Adam. Paul makes it clear that men and women alike are free to marry or not to marry. We also know that not every marriage brings the fulfillment that God intended. And, even in the best marriage, there may still be aloneness. St. Augustine wrote, "Thou has created us for Thyself, O God, and we cannot rest until we find rest in Thee." Francis Schaeffer adds, "It is not because there is no one to speak with that men are lonely, but because they are cut off from the One who can fill their loneliness." David said it poetically, "As a deer pants for the water books, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God..." (Psa 42:1-2).
There was a song back in the late 70’s that mourned, "Looking for love in all the wrong places, searching for love in all the wrong faces." While the song was about meeting that special someone to whom we can belong and who will belong to us, it is also true that many people are searching in all the wrong places for what can be found only in God.
Because of a need to belong a girl may give herself sexually to any boy who shows her some attention. Because of a need to belong, a husband or wife may remain in an abusive relationship with an adulterous mate. Because of a need to belong a young man may join a gang. The unhealthy relationships into which we plunge ourselves while searching for someone or something to fill the God-shaped hollow in our lives are the things books, plays, and songs are written about. The answer to the quest is, for many people, "If you don’t succeed the first time, try, try again."
But the real answer lies in belonging to Jesus and in Jesus’ belonging to us. He invites all who thirst, "...come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water’" (John 7:37-38). John went on to explain Jesus’ meaning: "But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive." Paul wrote, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Cor 12:13). I like the New American Standard Version of 1 Corinthians 3:21-23: "So then let not one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.