Is foundational to human flourishing. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, “belonging and love” come in only right above “safety” and “physiological”. In short, we first must have our physical needs met (food, water, clothing, health and well-being). Then we must be safe (physically, emotionally, psychologically). And then—in order to support others like self-esteem, cognitive needs, aesthetic needs, and so on—we must have a firm sense of love and belonging.
Loved by someone. Belonging to someone. Loved by people. Belonging to a people.
Enter the good news of Jesus: You are loved—by Someone you may have never thought loved you, and whose very essence is a love that is stronger than any other force in the universe. You belong—to a divine-earthly family that has been formed by that great love.
Giving one’s self fully to this is a wholesale shift in identity. One that more often than not will make you feel like a stranger in the world, at least to those outside of the family who don’t yet understand. It’s common to feel unloved, or like an outsider, when relating to those outside of the family of Jesus—even those among whom we have once had a strong sense of love and belonging.
At which point the only thing to do is say goodbye, to grieve whatever lesser love we may have lost and to revel in the greater love we have now gained. And, with as much patience and compassion as we can manage, invite those others to belong to our new family as well.
