Belonging

In summary of Romans 15:6-7 it says, “Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.”

Bottom Line:

Join together, give praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus.  Accept each other just as Christ has accepted you, so that God will ultimately be given the glory.

What this means to me:

As a follower of Christ, I join with other believers, God’s family, and give praise and glory to God in everything I do.  I should accept others, just as Christ has accepted me.  In everything I do, my goal should be to bring glory to God.  When it comes to family, there are two ways to get in: 1). be born into it, or 2). be adopted into it.  God does both. It’s part of being born again and adopted into the family of God.  Interestingly enough, in Roman law, which people followed during the writing of the New Testament, one could disown a child. But if you adopted a child, you were forbidden to ever disown them. God tells us I am not only born again into his family, but he has adopted me, and there is no way he would ever disown me. This is really good news!  Once born, I cannot be unborn. And, once I was born again, I cannot be unborn again. Now, I can grieve the Father, just like I had done to my earthly parents. Fellowship may be broken, but no matter what your parents say, everybody will know that I’m still their child.  The Bible says in 1 Timothy 3:15, “I want you to know how people who are members of God’s family must live. God’s family is the church” (GW). We are the family of God. I have learned that Church is not something I go to, rather Church is something I belong to. I’m truly welded into the building of the temple of God. I’m grafted into the vine and the tree of life. I’ve born again and adopted into the family of God.  Often the world thinks of Christianity as a belief system and while there are beliefs involved, it is much more than that. It’s a belonging system. It means I belong to the family of God. It means I’m part of the body of Christ.