What are the privileges of belonging to God? - Belonging - TouchPoints

Romans 8:1There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

We all need a sense of belonging, for in belonging we find security and acceptance. When you realize you belong, you feel affirmed, protected, and valued. Feeling accepted gives you confidence to share your deepest feelings without worry of rejection. And when you belong to God, that security and acceptance can never be taken away—it lasts for eternity. The condemnation under sin that prevented your acceptance has been removed by Jesus, who reestablished God’s ownership of you through his work on the cross.

Galatians 3:29Now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

The Galatians were under intense pressure to submit to a Jewish religious system alongside their trust in Christ. Paul argued that everything right and godly about the Jewish understanding of God was manifested in Jesus Christ, so those who belonged to Christ could claim an Abrahamic inheritance just as truly as those who claimed a national or cultural connection to Abraham. In fact, God’s promise to Abraham that his family would bless all the nations of the world (Genesis 12:1-3) was partly fulfilled every time Gentiles came to Christ.

Galatians 4:7You are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

The weight of this verse comes from its reminder that we were once slaves. We were born into inescapable bondage to sin. Our belonging to God by adoption makes us not only children but also inheritors of all God has promised. We have a privileged present as God’s children and a privileged future as God’s heirs.

Ephesians 1:3All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

Once we understand that a “blessing” is a good gift we speak or deliver into someone’s life, we can better recognize the priceless gifts God gives us when we belong to him. The blessings we receive come from our connection to Jesus our Savior and Lord, who gives us the right to become God’s children (see John 1:12) and to live our lives from, for, and in him.

Deuteronomy 7:6“You are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.”

The choosing of the Israelites by God was intended to send a message to the world about the goodness of belonging to God. In Christ we receive the fullness of God’s plans for those who belong to him. We receive all the blessings he freely gives to his children. We inherit the family privileges of the Almighty.

John 15:19-21The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? “A slave is not greater than the master.” Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.

Suffering for our faith here on earth is a privilege because it shows we belong to God. The world accepts those who belong to it and instinctively rejects those whose ultimate identity is in Christ. Jesus was preparing his original disciples and all those who would ever follow him for the reality that believers should expect from the world the same treatment it gave Christ. God will reward our loyalty with eternal life, in which there will be no suffering.

1 John 4:4You belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

“Those people” to whom John refers are false prophets who deny the identity of Jesus as God in the flesh. Those people are under the control of a spirit that opposes God. Believers in Jesus must remember they have been given the Holy Spirit, who cannot be overcome and who can protect those who belong to God.