Where do you belong? Maybe you feel at home with your classmates, or maybe your family. Quite possibly, you don’t feel like you belong anywhere.

Today I’m going to talk about “belonging” in the sense of spiritual family. 

We can belong to the world, to ourselves, or to Christ. Each of these can bring a feeling of belonging, but only one will give us lasting peace and security.

Let’s find out whose daughters we are.  

Are You A Daughter of The World?

We are all born daughters of the world since, after the fall of man, we are all born in sin. 

I have found belonging to the world brings constant pressure and disappointment. It brings despair and an unhealthy obsession with skin-deep qualities. 

A daughter of the world is constantly trying to keep up with the pressure of being like those she sees about her and copying their various actions. Maybe we aim to be like the celebrities we see or the friends we hang out with. Maybe we want to do the things that the people around us do so that we can feel like we truly belong with them- these things sometimes being harmless, yet far too often bad. It could be something as simple as dressing in similar trends or something as serious as starting to change your behavior to match their worldly ones.

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” Psalm 1:1

What About Belonging To Yourself? 

Belonging to yourself is what the world suggests for you. Although it’s not belonging to a “family”, it definitely has to be considered, since it’s a common choice.

Belonging to yourself may sound nice, but only really brings further discouragement than belonging to the world, since we are naturally sinners and all our own desires are sinful.

You may aim for good in belonging to yourself and not the world. However, if we belong to ourselves we are either stuck in a loop of wanting to do right and failing as the sinful nature takes over, or we’re simply trying to please ourselves. 

As I said in another post, “We are told that ‘It’s better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.’ (Psalm 118:8).”

If we belong to ourselves, we are placing confidence in ourselves, instead of Christ. My article goes on to say: “In this verse, the psalmist is talking about ‘man’ as not just the gender known as ‘man’ but the general term of ‘mankind’. You and I are mankind, and, while the main focus of this verse is that it’s better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in others, it also means ‘yourself’. I am part of mankind, thus it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in myself.” 

A Place of Refuge: Belonging to God 

Belonging to God is by far the best choice, as it is the only family that brings forth true blessings and peace.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1

If you have accepted Christ as your savior, then He will give you the strength to follow Him and live for His glory. When you are God’s child, you’re given an eternal inheritance in Heaven and you’re made joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). If we are His then He is ours. When we live to honor Him He gives us comfort on earth and a place in Glory where all pain is gone!

Being God’s children is a privilege and is the greatest gift we could be given. 

To be His children means to love and respect Him, which means putting off our old and sinful natures (something easier said than done). Being His children means the sacrifice of our selfish desires and the putting on of righteous desires. 

But while belonging to God may sometimes be hard, it will always result in abundant blessings according to His will, help in times of trouble, and a spiritual family that will never let you down. 

We are given free will and are able to make a choice- to be a daughter of the world, live for yourself, or be a daughter of the One True King. We need to make that choice to lay down our own desires and take on the blessings that come with living for Christ. 

Who do you belong to?

Are we pouring our hearts and souls into belonging to the Lord or into feeding the desire to be like the people around us? Are we focused on Christ and the approval of our Heavenly Father, or are we clinging to the things of this world and seeking its approval? 

Even if we’re saved, we still need to make an effort to put aside the things of the world, since the sinful nature will always be there until we are called to Glory. 

If you supported one football team you wouldn’t go around in the merch of another. No matter how much you say you support the first, it will show the complete opposite if you wear the colors of the second. 

As daughters of Christ, when we profess to follow Him but follow the ways of the world or the lies we tell ourselves, what does that say about us? 

Instead, we are called to bring forth good fruit:

“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such, there is no law”

Galatians 5:22-23

Remember, Roses, that to be a child of the King is more than the first step of repentance: it is to live for Him. 

(P.S. If you want to read more into how being in the Spirit helps us in life, check out Romans 8!)