A Biblical Sense of Belonging for The People of God
“He (being Jesus) has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.”
Colossians 1:13-14, HCSB
To grip this passage correctly, we must fine-tune our understanding of the terms: “domain” & “transfer.” These terms both speak to our sense of belonging and personal identity. These terms work together to express to us, as believers within Christ, that we are adopted and bear a new identity.
Jesus, the Son of God, dwelled among us within this dominion of darkness. He lived, showing us what God is like and, ultimately, laid down His life, willingly, to purchase us back from the dominion of darkness. Those who repent, declaring Jesus to be Lord, are then transferred (adopted) from the dominion of darkness into the family of God - Who is light and love. We become citizens of His kingdom of light! We bear His name; we wear His name-tag upon our chest! Therefore, every belief we fashion, every decision we make, flows out of our renewed, conscecrated spirit. We wholly belong to the Lord and the Lord’s name defines our personhood.
Knowing that His identity defines us, it’s His Word and His opinion that we now always seek to remain within agreement with, in ALL things, related to our lives throughout our days. Pursuing agreement with His Spirit and His Word is the perpetual evidence of our belonging to the Lord.
Remaining In Agreement Even In Anger
“My dearly loved brothers, understand this: Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.”
James 1:19-20, HCSB
To be quick to hear and slow to speak denotes humility. It’s actually our conscious decision (an act of submission) to silence our flesh, then to choose to listen to the Holy Spirit, which results in our disposition coming into agreement with the Holy Spirit. This is the renewal process of the mind which the Holy Spirit takes us through (1 Corinthians 2:16). As our disposition is being renewed by the Holy Spirit, every decision we make and every deed we commit then comes into agreement with the Spirit of God.
To choose to listen leads to a faithful obedience, which leads to righteous choices in our lives. The righteousness produced from the Holy Spirit through our obedience is the evidence of our salvation and the fruits of God’s spirit in our lives from which others are nourished.
As believers, one way we can seriously mis-step in our relationship with God’s Word is by hearing but not receiving; learning but not submitting to the authority of Scripture. It is easy to familiarize ourselves with Scripture through a sermon, a podcast, a Sunday School lesson, only to use Scripture we hear to underwrite our own views.
This remains an issue because our disposition would remain rooted in the flesh; it would remain yet still critical, judgmental and given to unbridled anger without restraint from the Holy Spirit’s self-control. Therefore, as James insinuates, when we are not seeking first to listen and to come into agreement with the Holy Spirit, then we are more inclined to act out of anger. Perhaps we are angry about just causes, right stances; even still, if our dispositions are not are not under the authority of the Holy Spirit, we will carry out even our just anger in the wrong way.
The events of 2020 and on into 2021 certainly reveal this reality. The anger demonstrated over, even just causes, has come out the wrong way from all sides and it has produced the wrong outcome in every way.
‘Man’s anger cannot accomplish God’s righteousness.’ It never has; it never will. Our scientific developments, our political persuasions or our just causes will not serve to better us, let alone save us. We are sinners. Our hearts are corroded with sin-filled desires, which dish up destruction. Highland, let us remain under the authority of the Holy Spirit, so that we produce the fruit of righteousness, even in our anger (Ephesians 5: 18-21; Romans 12:9-21).
Our world spins upon an axis of injustice; it is the very dominion of darkness. Jesus entered our world, bore our sin and now offers to buy us back with His own blood. In our submission to His redeeming Name and salvation, we then belong to the Kingdom of Light, bearing His name, His nature! So, while we walk through this shadow of death, our hearts no longer reside here. We are citizens of the Kingdom of Light, the “city on the hill.”
“He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for Himself a people for His own possession, eager to do good works” (Titus 2:14).
So, Highland, let us commit ourselves to the good of our neighbor and the glory of our God, not allowing ourselves to become entangled with the wrestling matches of this world. May we press on to know our Lord and make Him known, both in our citizenship and our conduct, remaining unstained by sin throughout our days.
I love you,
Rob