A Place to Belong ~ Day 17

"You are members of God's very own family, 

citizens of God's country, and you belong in 

God's household with every other Christian. 

                                                    (Ephesians 2:19b)

We are called to belong, not just to believe. When God created Adam, he stated, "It is not good for man to be alone" (Genesis 2:8). We were created for fellowship and meant to be in a family. We can only achieve God's purposes through fellowship with others. Once we are in God's family, we are no longer alone (1 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 2:21, 22; 3:6; 4:16; Colossians 2:19; 1 Thessalonians 4:17). We are all connected to every other believer for eternity.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we except that we are members of his Body. As Paul tells us in Romans 12:4 – 5; 1 Corinthians 6:15 and 12:12 – 27, being a member of the church is like being a vital organ of a living body; as such, we are all in the connected in the Body of Christ. Of course, we all need to have faith in Christ.

Just as the human body is not healthy without each of its organs, so too the church depends on each of its members. The Bible tells us, "Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body and chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped off finger or a cut off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we?" (Romans 12:4 – 5)


If we cut ourselves off from the body of the church, we could do not survive on our own. We need the church to support our spiritual life (Ephesians 4:16). The first sign of this happening is if our attendance at church and other fellowship becomes sporadic. When we notice that this is happening, it won't be long before all our other spiritual life begins to slide.  We need to remember that the church will last for eternity, and so will our part in it.


This is a very long lesson, and as such, we will be breaking it down into parts. Please come back tomorrow for Part Two.