There's a Place for Us

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”—Matthew 9:36

Have you ever felt that you didn’t belong? That there was no one who understood you and who loved you for who you are? My daughter is a huge fan of The Greatest Showman. The soundtrack can constantly be heard playing throughout our house—so much so that we can all sing it. I wanted to know more about the show, so I googled it and found some youtube videos of the songs being presented to some high up execs before the show was given the greenlit to be filmed. One of the most powerful songs in the show is the song This Is Me which became the anthem of the film and perhaps the most powerful song that people rally behind. Here is the video. Start about 1 minute in to actually hear the song. Watch how much the other singers respond as the song continues on. It’s beautiful.

Why is it that this song and this video struck such a powerful chord with people? It’s because people want to feel like they belong. In the musical, the song is sung by the outcasts of greater society—rejected by the crowds in everyday life, they were able to find a group of people where they belonged and found purpose. It strikes a deep chord with all of us because God has placed within each one of us a deep desire to belong. Some believe that place is where they can express their sin and be accepted for who they are in their sin, but that is not the case. They may find others who accept them for who they are, but who fail to understand that love is desiring what is best for someone else--and that can never be sin no matter how much we find it at the core of our identity.

As Christ-followers, we have discovered that deepest is longing is realized through Christ first. We have learned that He loves us for who we are deep down. We are sinners, we can’t forget that. But He loves us in spite of our sin (Romans 5:8) and gave His life for us to save us from it. We must realize that before Jesus, we found our identity in our sin rather than in God. It is when we see God’s love for us so beautifully and painfully played out for us on the cross that we see that our identity is in actuality, rebellion toward God. He had to step in. Sin had to be paid for. Our rebellion had to receive justice. That’s the cross. He loved us so much that He was willing to pay the price and penalty for our sinful rebellion. He then offers to exchange the identity we built around our sinfulness for the identity that He gives us through His righteousness that was supremely exhibited and achieved through His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead.

If that weren’t enough, He offers a new place to belong and a new people to be within the church. The church is a messy group of sinners trying to live the life Jesus purposed for us to have. It’s a family—God’s family. And while we are messed up, we are redeemed. We are His, He is our God, He made us, we are His people and the sheep of His pasture (Psalm 100:3). We belong to Him. We have a home. We have a family. We have a place where we belong—a people we belong to. It’s not a perfect group of people, rather it is a group of people who have realized how bankrupt and wrong their past identity was because it was based on self and sin. They have turned to Jesus and embraced Him and what He did on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. He offers a new identity and those who believe are the ones who took that identity as their own and are learning how to live in it. Much like riding a bike, it is clumsy and painful, but they keep going determined to master it.

Take time today to thank Him for what He has done for you. Embrace the messiness of life and thank Him that He has given a spiritual family to belong to.