AMY LARSON
Staff Writer
Good old Abraham Maslow decided to tell people exactly what they needed long ago. In his Hierarchy of Needs, he starts with the obvious (water, air, and the like) and makes his way to “self-actualization,” his term for understanding ourselves and the world around us. Smack in the middle of his diagram, though, is a need that is deeply felt by each person on earth: belonging.
In our own lives, we seek belonging in so many different ways. We join groups, we buy the fashions we think are “in,” we do things we think we shouldn’t or don’t want to in order to gain the approval of others. Somehow, though, it never seems to be enough.
Even as we get older and leave the cliques of college and high school, we continue to seek different ways to belong and places to be accepted. Though these places shift and change as we walk through life, I have found a place I know I will always belong—with Jesus.
I think a funny thing about humans is that we expect Jesus to get angry at us when we do something we think is wrong. We expect him to withhold love or blessings or other gifts. What’s amazing, though, is that no matter who we are, what we’ve done, where we come from or where we’re going, we belong with Jesus.
I can think of times in my life when I’ve made mistakes, been selfish or hurt others, yet the thought that Jesus still accepts me and loves me despite all that is so miraculous that it’s nearly overwhelming.
Though I find comfort and support in that acceptance and belonging, I don’t think that God just wants me to sit and rest on it without letting others know they too are accepted. He especially doesn’t want me to take it away from others.
The other day I saw a news report about a rally in which “Christians” held derogatory signs and shouted hurtful slogans toward those in attendance at a homosexual group’s gathering. For as angry as I got and as much as seeing this broke my heart, I cannot even imagine how terrible God felt. How hurtful that the people who were supposed to be representing Him were portraying him in such an incorrect light.
God does not give love on the basis of sexual orientation or any other personal choice. He also doesn’t give love on the basis of whether or not we make mistakes – one of the beautiful things about God is that he has as much love for the people holding those signs as he did for the people in that convention or anyone else.
Our heads struggle with unconditional love – that is not how human love works, and we’re not used to it. We feel like we must do something to earn our keep, to make God continue to love and accept us, but the truth is that God loved and accepted us far before we were even born, before we could have even done anything to merit his approval.
My point in saying all this is that you belong to Jesus. He loves you so much.
However, that belonging doesn’t stop there. Each and every person you meet is as much accepted and loved by God as you, and as Christians – but also simply as members of the same humanity. We must learn to treat other people (no matter their personal choices or ideas) with the respect and love that God gives us all the time. Despite ourselves, we’ll always find our need for belonging met fully in God – it be amazing if we could also say that of each other.
01-18-2007