Purpose Driven Life - Day 17

Day 17 -  A Place to Belong

 

You are called to belong, not just believe. We are created for community, fashioned for fellowship, and formed for a family, and none of us can fulfill God's purposes by ourselves.

The Bible says we are put together, joined together, built together, members together, heirs together, fitted together, and held together and will be caught up together. You are not on your own anymore. While your relationship to Christ is personal, God never intends it to be private. In God's family you are connected to every other believer, and we will belong to each other for eternity.

The Bible says, In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. It also says a Christian without a church home is like an organ without a body, a sheep without a flock, or a child without a family. It is an unnatural state.

The Christian life is more than just commitment to Christ; it includes a commitment to other Christians. The Christians in Macedonia understood this. Paul said, First they gave themselves to the Lord; and then, by God's will, they gave themselves to us as well. Joining the membership of a local church is the natural next step once you've become a child of God. You become a Christian by committing yourself to Christ, but you become a church member by committing yourself to a specific group of believers. The first decision brings salvation; the second brings fellowship.