Belonging here...

means we let go.

There didn’t need to be a crowd for Jesus to be teaching. The disciples had just arrived in Capernaum when a conversation about taxes led the group to continue asking Jesus question after question. Every good Jew hated tax collectors; they had sold out their own people to become greater in status. It makes sense that the disciples asked Jesus “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”

I can imagine they were expecting Jesus to say “YOU”, but instead he called over a child. With that action Jesus painted a very clear picture.
The ones you don’t even consider belonging are the ones who are the greatest.

In case the disciples missed His point, Jesus kept going.
He told a story of a shepherd who owned 100 sheep. If one went missing, wouldn’t the shepherd leave the 99 to pursue the 1?
The ones you are indifferent towards are the ones God pursues.

Just in case they still hadn’t understood, Jesus kept going. He taught them how to approach someone who kept doing things that were harming others. He gave them tools to help people come back into a life with God.
The ones who are missing the mark are the ones we are called to bring back home.

Peter still didn’t get it.

He pulled Jesus to the side and asked
“How often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”

Here’s what you need to know about Peter’s question. Numbers were very important in his culture. Numbers held meaning beyond mathematics holding significance in literature and life as well. 7 was considered a holy number; a complete number. A number that means you have done your part.

But Peter’s question showed that he still didn’t get exactly what Jesus was here to do.

“No, not 7 times, but 70 times 7 times.”

Jesus told Peter a story of the unforgiving debtor. The debtor was a man who owed the King the equivalence of millions of dollars. He was communicating that the debt accumulated was an amount no human effort could ever repay. But the King pardoned his debt completely. As the debtor left the throne room, freed from his debt, he encountered a neighbor who owed him a few thousand dollars. It was significant, but it was an amount that could be returned with time and grace.

The forgiven debtor became an unforgiving creditor. He grabbed his neighbor by the throat and had him thrown into prison.

Why would you bury others with demands you weren’t expected to meet?

When we belong to God, we let go of offenses, because ours have been let go. Belonging to God is a gift which surpasses human effort. And still, we get to live with open hands, sharing this gift to welcome everyone in.

Because when you belong to God, it’s because He let go.

He let go of His right to be offended.
He let go of His place and made room for you to be counted greatest.
He let go of indifference, choosing to pursue the one who wandered.

He let go to hold on to you.

This is how God invites us to be like him.

• We get to be the first to let go of offense.

• We get to be the first to care when someone is missing from this good life.

• We get to be the first to welcome those who don’t think they belong.

We get to give this to everyone because we have been given this from God.

It’s not ours; it’s His.

How have you experienced this gift of belonging from Jesus?

Is there anything coming to mind that challenges your belief in belonging to God?

Take a moment to write down those thoughts on a piece of paper. Look at them closely when you are done.

It’s time to let those things go.

When you’re ready, read this passage from Romans 8:29-39, then crumble your paper and drop it into the trash.

For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”[o]) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[p] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing can separate you from God.

Nothing can separate us.

Belonging here means we let go.