9 May 2017
There’s strength in knowing that you belong to someone. It’s a reason why Jesus is able to speak so
plainly with others: he belongs to God the Father, and he knows it. He doesn’t have to worry about offending
these people or those people: he belongs to the Father, and that’s where his
loyalty lies.
And it’s a reason why those early Christians could still
preach the good news, even in the midst of the persecutions: they belonged to
Christ—not just as a nice idea, but really and truly. They didn’t have to worry about getting these
people or those people mad at them; they belonged to Christ, and that’s where
their loyalty lay. There’s strength in
knowing that you belong to someone—especially when that someone is God himself.
When Jesus talks about his followers, he calls them “my
sheep.” He calls us “his” sheep. It’s so easy to overlook that little
possessive pronoun. But we can’t. We belong to him; we are “his”—even more
definitively than two best friends belong to one another. And knowing that we never walk alone—unless we
choose to—knowing that we are always in the hands of God is a reason for us to
be strong in faith. It’s a reason for us
to go through life with confidence that, no matter what, we are deeply,
irrevocably loved by our God.
It’s why we wear a crucifix on necklaces or rings or
bracelets. It’s why we make the Sign of
the Cross over ourselves. It’s why we
come to the altar of God with joy and not slugglishness. We do all that (and more) because we know
that we don’t go it alone—we are the Lord’s sheep; we are “his,” and he always
has our back. And there’s strength in
knowing that.
No matter comes in life, there’s strength in knowing that we
belong to someone—especially when that someone is none other than God
himself. He is our refuge; he is our
joy; he is our strength.
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