The Bethany Bullet-September 16, 2008

None of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

(Romans 14:7-8)

In the animated movie, The Prince of Egypt we see Moses as a young adult at the time he comes to grips with the fact that he is a Hebrew, and in good animated musical fashion, he breaks out into song. When he arrives at the palace that has been the only home he knows, he sings these words:

Gleaming in the moonlight
Cool and clean and all I've ever known
All I ever wanted
Sweet perfumes of incense
Graceful rooms of alabaster stone
All I ever wanted

This is my home
With my father, mother, brother
Oh so noble, oh so strong
Now I am home
Here among my trappings and belongings
I belong
And if anybody doubts it
They couldn't be more wrong

I am a sovereign prince of Egypt
A son of the proud history that's shown
Etched on ev'ry wall
Surely this is all I ever wanted
All I ever wanted
All I ever wanted

The longing for belonging is what Moses sings about and that is pretty familiar with most people today. Many seek to find belonging by the belongings they possess.

“To belong”—means to correspond to, to go with, suit, conform to, and to hit the spot.

“Belongings”—are effects, possessions, goods, or STUFF.

All of us have belongings and we all have a desire to belong. Along with our belongings we all want to belong to something. We all have some deep innate desire to feel a connection to something, to find a place we feel well suited.

Perhaps you find it in following a team, you are part of Raider Nation or USC; maybe you bleed Dodger blue. It could be in the PTA or the NRA, the YMCA or UCLA. But friends, Paul tells us that in God there is ultimate belonging.

This God has belongings: the Psalmist tells us that the birds of the air, all the creatures in the sea and even the cows on 1000 hills are his. The Prophets tell us that he created and owns the mountains and the seas, everything in heaven and earth including kings and kingdoms, understanding and victory, dominion, power, awe, wisdom council. But his prized possession is YOU! You are the people of his hand and the sheep of his pasture. He created us and fashioned us from the dust of the earth and we are the clay in his hands. We are more than an item in his collection we are a prized possession.

He took our belongings. The things we seem to cherish and hold on to, including our sin and disobedience and rebellion, and made it his own. In exchange, he gave us all of his own possessions including life that he procured on the cross and empty tomb.

We belong to the Lord! We belong to God! There is no greater sense of belonging that to be God’s own.

We may not know what we will be but we know that we belong to the Lord. It has been said that more money has been spent on a search for belonging than on belongings themselves but remember these words of Paul:

None of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.