Zechariah 2:11

 ¹¹ “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. 

The desire to belong and identify with a group of likeminded people is a deep need in our human nature.  Primarily we were created to know and be known by our Creator and to be in a right and everlasting relationship with Him.  However, from the moment Adam sinned, that relationship was severed and man lost his most meaningful purpose in creation which left us scrambling to fill the relationship void.  Everyone the world over is constantly searching for a way to find acceptance and meaningful relationship in one way or another.  Many look to team sports, clubs, societies, co-workers and many other things simply in search of one thing; to belong to something that gives a sense of meaning and purpose in life.  Others turn to darker pursuits to find a community, including drugs, alcohol and even LGBTQ sexual perversion.  But all these group identities are merely sinful perversions of what man was created for and who man was created to belong to.  To the unbeliever, there will be no end to the pursuit of fitting in and finding something or someone to enhance an otherwise “meaningless” life.  And yet, an unbeliever can search the world over and still never find any lasting reason for his existence outside of Jesus Christ.  As one billionaire lamented upon his deathbed, “that was interesting, I wonder what it was all for?”  And yet, fellow Believer, while the world is seeking relationship and meaning in the most worthless, sinful and trivial of things, we praise the Lord for the joy of being in close fellowship with our Creator and belonging to the most meaningful and joyful thing in all the universe…the Kingdom of Heaven.  We are citizens of an eternal Kingdom, ruled by the eternal King of Kings, Jesus Christ!  In this Kingdom we are free from fear, anxiety, hopelessness, a meaningless life, and most importantly…death.  What an unfathomable joy it is to know that the Spirit of the Living God dwells in the midst of His people!  Dear Christian, my hope for you this day is that you both realize and celebrate the incredible privilege it is to be called God’s possession and to be counted among His people.  We no longer have to search to belong or search to find true and lasting relationship, we have been granted every spiritual blessing in Christ!  We belong to God, as a dear child belongs to his loving father, as a dear sheep belongs to its caring shepherd.  And there will never be a time, neither now nor in eternity when this claim that the Holy Spirit has placed on your heart as a seal of belonging will ever be removed, shaken or destroyed!  All of us have felt alone at times, forgotten, unimportant, and have struggled with earthly relationships, but take courage, you will never be forgotten by the One who paid it all to restore a right relationship with you!  You are precious to God and what God deems precious He will never throw away!  “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,  who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14)

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John