Daily Delight
We were made to be in community with God before anyone else.
This is a thought I’ve been working through the past few weeks-- I’ve been in a season where community has been sorely lacking, and I miss feeling like I have a place I belong. After many seasons where community has been my normal, the isolation has been deafening.
But I’m not made to belong to other people. I’m made to belong to God, and He has made a way for me to belong to Him.
Before I can find community in the people around me, I need to be in community with the God who loves me better than any human ever could.
I so desperately want to belong-- it’s one of the cries of my heart, for people to love me like I love them. I strive to be a good friend, one people can depend on. But God’s cry for us is similar-- for us to love him even a fraction as much as He loves us. No striving required.
We can’t find the true community we have in Him in other people. No one will love us as well, take care of us as well, understand us as well, as our Jesus. Hebrews 4:15-16 reminds us:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
God is our true empathizer. He’s walked through this life just like we did, but did it without sin. He understands everything about us and our lives, because he’s been there and done that. Who better to confide in than someone who gets what you’re going through?
It’s nice to have community-- it’s necessary for us to have followers of Christ to lean on in this world. But before I go looking for the love and affirmation I crave in people that will never be able to fulfill it, I need to go to the one who knows every part of me and loves me still. Before I strive to belong, I need to let go of my striving and accept that I’m not made to belong to the world-- I’m made to belong to God.
We don’t have to go searching for belonging in the world-- we already have it in Jesus. And believing that changes everything.
Seek Jesus, our ultimate empathizer, for your needs, before you seek each other-- let Him be our Father, our friend, our help, our confidante. He’s all of that and more if we let Him be.
We belong not to this world or the people in it. We belong to God-- who saves us a seat in our loneliness, who accepts us as-is, and who made a way to lovingly be the community our hearts crave.
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Photo: @dreacoci
About the Author
Jordan Taylor
Jordan Taylor is a 22 year old student living in the suburbs of Nashville, her lifelong hometown. She is currently studying to be an English teacher, and hopes to have a classroom full of crazy, loud middle schoolers in her near future! Jordan enjoys reading, long walks (anywhere, not just the beach!), crafting, listening to music, playing with her pug, Lola, and writing. She is learning how to be brave, love adventure, and try new things (a lifetime work in progress!). Jordan loves Jesus with all that she is, and is learning to let Him love her too. She enjoys rambling and writing about her faith at her blog, http://taylorjm.blogspot.com/, and is excited to share her journey with you all on DOD!