Transcript:
Hello, welcome to Walking in Step with God. I’m Steve McDonald. Today’s message is titled ‘Connect BHello, welcome to Walking in Step with God. I am Steve McDonald. Today we explore the topic “Find Your Place” as the next segment in our series “Living in the Light”. In this series we are exploring the aspects of living a life that honors God and how we can reveal Him to others.
Today, let’s explore the idea of finding our place in society. God created us for community and belonging. For many of us, isolation and seclusion feel comfortable, but there is so much more to experience in life when we truly embrace a sense of belonging in the world. We will also touch on the importance of knowing our worth. Often, society tries to define our worth by social status, financial strength, our careers, and even our education. The truth is, our worth is not defined by our achievements alone. The truth is that God loves every one of us the same. In God’s eyes, you and I both are His beloved children. Today, we will also touch on the concept of embracing acceptance. Once again, society has a way of trying to dictate the parameters of when and if we should be accepted. Let’s discuss ways to maintain a posture of embracing acceptance regardless of how society may treat or label us.
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Welcome back. Let’s continue in our discussion of finding our place in this world.
Accept the Gift of Belonging
I believe most of us have experienced times in our youth where we didn’t feel like we belonged. Perhaps we were shunned by the popular kids at school. Maybe there have been moments in our lives where we felt insecure and socially awkward. Even those of us who are popular and successful in life can struggle with feelings of belonging.
As we grow older, these feelings don’t disappear quickly. They stay with us as we diversify our social circles and form relationships with others in our workplace. Belonging can be something that we struggle with well into adulthood.
This desire for belonging is not by accident; God created us for community. It is literally part of our spiritual and emotional DNA. In God’s eyes, we are all beautifully made and given the gift of belonging.
Unfortunately, for most of us, our capacity to embrace belonging has been influenced by our social circles and treatment by society, long before we understand how we appear in God’s eyes. Once we can truly accept the gift that God has given us (the gift of belonging), we become equipped to truly walk a life of faith and pursue our purpose.
When we embrace the gift of belonging, we can pursue human connection and community with confidence. We can ask God to lead and guide us to the communities that He knows are aligned with His plans for us.
One of the first steps we can take to find our place in society is to embrace our God-given gift of belonging.
Value Your Worth
We live in a world that places value on wealth, assets, job titles, neighborhoods, and even our racial or ethnic makeup. We are taught over time that these things define someone’s worth. Unfortunately, this is ingrained so tightly in society it can be difficult to break away from the idea that someone else defines our worth.
The truth is that we are all priceless in God’s eyes. Regardless of the number of earthly achievements, God sees all of us as equals. He loves the successful CEO of a Fortune 500 no more and no less than the individual who preps food at a fast-food restaurant.
We often get caught up in the idea that if we have not earned a particular college degree, a certain level of wealth, or any one of several achievements that society says we should have as a goal, we are somehow inferior. God’s love is constant regardless of the number of achievements we have accomplished.
The actions of our past, be they great societal accomplishments or damaging mistakes and errors of judgment, do not define us and do not shape God’s love for us. Our worth is established by God, not by the labels society may place upon us.
Embrace Acceptance
As we’ve touched on several times in this message, society has its ways of defining what is and isn’t acceptable. We have learned over time what attributes we should have in order to be deemed acceptable by our communities.
If we fall short in these areas, there is a temptation to feel that we are not acceptable. This can be made worse if others reject us when we don’t live up to society-driven markers for success.
When we decide to embrace the fact that we are a child of God, we can move away from these society-driven constructs of acceptance. Knowing that we are completely acceptable and perfect in God’s eyes should give us pause; it should give us encouragement not to prioritize what society thinks.
When we walk through life without the understanding that God loves us just as we are, we can be tempted to form opinions of ourselves that are simply false. We may form thoughts in our minds that rationalize why we are inferior or not as important as someone else.
If we keep our eyes on God, however, we can embrace truths that don’t live in our heads, but in our hearts, where we strive to become closer to God each day. Once we can embrace in our hearts that God’s truth is the only truth and that He is the source of all truth, we can see the importance of immersing ourselves in communities centered on faith and trusting in God.
When we turn away from the idea that our thoughts, feelings, or social circles define our value and worth, we can embrace God’s acceptance of us exactly as we are.
Wrap Up
In today’s message, we’ve explored several aspects of finding our place in society as we walk with God day by day.
Society has a way of conditioning us to believe that we only belong where we are told that we belong. The truth is that God gave all of us the gift of belonging: a desire in us to be in community, the idea to belong to a community, and the ability to embrace a sense of belonging with Him. When we choose to accept the gift of belonging from God, we can put ourselves on the path to truly understanding our potential, knowing that He will steer us to the communities and environments that are aligned with His perfected plans for us.
Society has found ways to try to define one’s worth by any number of factors: our education, careers, job titles, bank account balance, or the number of cars and homes we own. These are the things that society dictates establish one’s worth. The truth is that God sees all of us equally, regardless of the things that we own or the achievements that we’ve accomplished. God’s love is not tied to the list of our accomplishments.
Lastly, we discussed the idea of embracing acceptance. We have witnessed how society defines the constructs within which we should be accepted or rejected. Once again, let us remember that God accepts every single one of us exactly as we are.
When we embrace the fact that God accepts us as we are, we can allow His love and His embrace to be the source of truth. We can allow His truth to guide and lead us to the communities and environments that foster faith and trust in Him.
Society has conditioned us to know our place. It is something that is unavoidable in most situations. We learn that society will tell us our worth and dictate the communities and environments where we will be accepted. As a result, we come to know the places that society has designed to allow us to feel some sense of belonging, even if the places are not aligned with God’s truth.
Let us ask God for strength and courage to turn away from these societal constructs. Instead, let us look to Him for guidance and truth about who we are in Him, and ask that we be directed to the communities that not only embrace Him, but embrace us as we are.
Prayer
Let us close in prayer.
Are you interested in discovering more about the guidance offered in this message? Learn more in the companion article Going Deeper with the Word:Find your place
