The Need To Belong
How many of us just want to belong?
Belong to something, belong to someone…
Matter to something, matter to someone…
What if I told you that you already belong… that you are already a part of something…that you already belong to someone. Each of us, bought with a price. Each of us uniquely created and designed to do the will of God for the Kingdom and glory of God.
You my friend, belong. You belong to God, and he loves you far beyond anyone or anything on this earth ever could or would, and regardless of if you want to believe this or not, it’s absolute truth and theirs nothing that you could say or do to make Him love you any less. His love for you is infinite.
I was laying down this morning talking to God about all of my hopes, dreams and desires… and mid thought, I asked myself the question: why do you want these things? like… what’s the goal here? and not even a moment after, I heard His voice ever so softly, so lovingly say — “belong.” “You want to belong. You’ve always wanted to belong, but you already do. You belong to me.”
Like whaaatt! I talk to God often, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shocked, shook, and completely blown away. I’m always so blown away when I hear the voice of God speak to my inner most being. It’s always in that very moment that I am reminded again and again that God is real… like… I mean really REAL because… My God! He truly knows the most intimate places of my heart, and yours!
The accuracy of that single word “belong” held so much power. It stood so very true for me, but if I’m honest, it was a truth that I would have never been able to admit on my own. You see, there is pain and shame in me actually admitting that I’ve always wanted to belong.
I’ve always felt different. I’ve never felt as though I “fit in”. Not with my family, and definitely not with my friends in school. Certain things like drinking, smoking, partying were just never my thing, and if or when I would try to deviate from the things of God, the conviction would hit me like a ton of bricks. The weight of it would feel so heavy for me that I’d just rather not participate in what everyone else was doing. So, I guess in a way, it made me feel insignificant. It made me feel unimportant… it made me feel “uncool”, and some days… it made me feel small.
This morning, when God spoke those words to me, it brought healing to the little girl in me. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that God had spoken to me, because the human in me would have never admitted that I actually wanted to belong. My flesh… my pride… the pride that we all carry when living in the flesh would have never allowed me to say or believe certain things about myself, even if it were the truth. We all fear rejection, many of us fear being alone, but many of us will never admit it. We’ll instead distract ourselves, deny our desire/need to belong and say things like
“I don’t care what people say about me”
“ I don’t care what people think of me”
“This is MY life ( I live how I want)”
“ I don’t need friends”
“ I don’t need anybody”
But, I came here to tell you today that that’s all a lie. You do in fact have a desire to belong… we all do… but that desire to belong stems far beyond this physical world.
The desire to belong was placed in you before you were born. This feeling to belong should serve as a deep and divine indicator that you were created for more than mere human-human connection. We were designed to be in relationship with God. We were designed to belong to God’s holy kingdom, and the enemy knows this. He tries and will stop at nothing to get us to distract ourselves with every “physical” relationship that we could possibly have on earth — which then keeps us from true spiritual relationship — relationship with God. It keeps us from the true fulfillment and completeness that we will feel when we actually come into true connection and relationship with our creator. So instead of going back to God for all of our needs, we hang on to people, things, and behaviors that aren’t good for us. Things that we know are sucking the literal life out of us, but things that temporarily make us feel important, loved, or like we actually belong. It’s like a never ending chase… a chase for a “high” that was never meant to be filled by the things of this world.
Dear friend, let me be the first to remind you… in the same way that God had to remind me this morning… I already belong. You, my friend.. already belong. We belong to the creator of the universe. We belong to the King of Kings. The Lord of Lords. We belong to God.
I truly believe that He wants me to remind you today that you have a place with Him. You have a home in Him, and He is awaiting for your sweet return.
Let us repent, turn from our sin and go back to our Father in Heaven.
He will love you like no one else ever could or would, and will crown you with glory and honor. Seek Him first, and all else shall truly fall into place. Stop seeking the world for what only God can provide. He loves you, and so do I!
You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8:5–9
All my love,
Amari E.